Director's speech at the launch of the National Cyber Strategy 2022
Good morning. Thank you, Emma for that introduction. And to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster for your leadership in launching this National Cyber Strategy. It’s a major moment in the nation’s Cyber life.
Although the covid situation has meant we’ve had to scale back today’s event, I think it’s obvious there’s been no scaling back in the UK’s cyber ambition.
The strategy we’re making public today shows how we can work together – across the UK and around the globe - to protect our way of life; ensure the country’s prosperity in the face of relentless cybercrime; and respond to a rising tide of authoritarianism that threatens free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace.
The National Cyber Strategy will focus our efforts to ensure cyber remains a force for good.
It’s ground-breaking because it’s a whole of cyber strategy. By that we mean, it’s builds on a strong track record of defending the digital homeland, to include all aspects of cyber. From defence to cyber operations. From the rules governing the cyber landscape of the future, to skills and education.
And it’s also a whole of society strategy. With the digital world playing an ever-increasing role in every aspect of our lives, we’re clear that cyber isn’t just the responsibility of Government. It’s for citizens, businesses large and small, academia, NGOs and local and devolved Governments.
I have been Director GCHQ for nearly 5 years. In that relatively short time, the prominence of technology and the role it plays in all of our lives has risen at an extraordinary rate. Technology is defining our lives in new and exciting ways. Our nation’s prosperity as well as our security are being driven by these innovations.
As the Minister rightly noted, the pandemic has provided even more evidence of both our dependencies and opportunities from these trends. I am proud of the people from GCHQ who have stepped in and helped the nation-wide government effort on Covid – from the data analysts to the teams protecting the vaccine supply chains. They’ve made a difference.
But it’s clear that even more change – even more opportunity - is down the track. Tech innovation will continue to shape the way we live in the future - everything from Central Bank Digital Currencies to smart cities.
It’s important that as a country, we not only react to, but seize the opportunity of these changes.
That’s why the National Cyber Strategy is key for the UK.
At its heart is the concept of cyber power. This has become increasingly important as a force for good on the global stage. It’s as vital to a nation’s security and prosperity as other more traditional forms of diplomacy and statecraft.
The Strategy takes this concept and develops a framework to guide the evolution of our national cyber work. It reflects a world where technology is central to the protection of our way of life. It supports businesses and communities to flourish. It describes how the deployment of offensive cyber capabilities in a responsible and proportionate way reinforce other aspects of cyber. And it shows how, with our allies, we need to be able to push back against the spread of influence from countries who are actively working against our interests in cyberspace.
As I stand here today, the UK can count itself as a leading cyber power.
For over a decade, the Government has invested massively in the capabilities and skills that have made this a reality.
It’s built on world class cyber defence and resilience that enables citizens and businesses in the UK to safely realise the opportunities of a digital economy.
Much of that emanates from the National Cyber Security Centre – a part of GCHQ charged with making the UK the safest place to live and do business online. The NCSC works with partners right across the country – private and public – to respond to incidents, warn of threats and offer tailored advice and guidance to stay safe online. In the past year alone, we’ve dealt with a record 777 incidents, helping businesses and Government to recover and pioneering new ways of protecting the UK through its innovative active cyber defence programme.
And as the Minister has just said, we are also developing the nation’s cyber skills; delivering programmes to attract diverse talent from 11 year olds through to post-grad and bursary students.
Cyber security is the bedrock of much of the progress we have made over the past decade. But on its own it’s not enough.
Alongside this defensive might we have continued to build offensive cyber capability.
The National Cyber Force, a partnership between intelligence and the MOD, is bringing cyber operations together with other aspects of statecraft to the whole spectrum of national security work. These capabilities enable the UK, legally and proportionately, to contest and challenge malign states and criminals in cyberspace. The NCF is already making a big impact. From countering misinformation to supporting the activities of our military overseas, and our police colleagues to go after criminal gangs, it is improving our defences and where necessary, imposing a cost on our adversaries.
But just because we’re currently a cyber power does not mean we’ll be one in the future.
Cyber threats are proliferating and technology is not always secure by design.
Earlier this year, the government’s Integrated Review set out the UK’s long-term plans for security, defence, development and foreign policy. It highlighted how vital science and technology will be to Britain’s future strength. And it emphasised how crucial cyber is to the security and prosperity of this country.
The pandemic has shown us the value of interoperable technology. Of technology that is secure and protects us all. Of technology that enables us to live our lives in new and exciting ways, free from undue interference.
But technology is also increasingly the focus for geopolitical competition. And that competition is driving a need for sovereignty in key technologies, which in turn is driving the balkanization of technology at a rate we hadn’t predicted.
China is working to make itself technologically independent – the ‘Made in China 2025’ strategy was just the start of this. But we’re seeing China go further and faster, imbuing standards and technologies with their authoritarian, government-led values.
If we don’t act – with our allies, with our partners and with the private sector – we will see undemocratic values as the default for vast swathes of future tech and the standards that govern it.
This strategy lays out how we’ll seek to push back at this moment of reckoning. Its framework aims to ensure that we can still do cybersecurity in the future, so that the tech we buy encodes our democratic values, with built-in privacy and security for all.
This strategy is designed to protect our way of life, drive prosperity and respond to the threats we see in cyberspace.
Building out from our success in cyber, it is supported by more than £2.6bn of fresh investment.
It brings a focus to efforts across the country, across the whole of society, across the whole of cyber.
For it to succeed, we need buy-in from the boardroom to the classroom to adapt, innovate and invest. We need to strengthen the UK cyber ecosystem to get the right people, with the right skills into the UK’s world leading cyber sector. And we need to be shaping the international debate about the way in which technology and cyberspace are governed for the future.
Of course, the UK cannot do this alone. We need global cooperation and shared approaches with like-minded allies.
All of this and more is set out in the new National Cyber Strategy. It provides the basis for the UK to remain a leading ‘democratic, responsible, cyber power’.
It sends a clear signal that the whole of society has a role to play, to help gain the benefits of a secure cyber space. And a clear signal to cyber criminals and authoritarian countries around the world that we are doubling down on the rule of law and on our democratic values.
The stakes are high.
Get this right, we will collectively set the rules, roles and responsibilities for a free, open, peaceful and secure cyberspace that benefits all global citizens.
Get this right, we will grow the next generations of skills, jobs and businesses across the UK.
And get this right, the country will be more prosperous and secure.
I look forward to helping GCHQ play its part.
