Cyber Security is not just an IT issue, says William Barker, Think Cyber Think Resilience campaign lead at MHCLG
Take five minutes to look at how our Building Resilience Together work is helping to shape some of today’s big ticket policy items, such as devolution, growth, public services, local democracy and civic resilience.
Our great work on Think Cyber Think Resilience has led to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development awarding MHCLG a public service innovation exemplar status and showcasing our work on the Observatory of International Public Service Innovation.
Devolution is creating new area wide information and financial systems, offering a once in a generation opportunity to improve cyber resilience awareness and practice across local systems and structures. MHCLG has been working with St George’s House, Windsor and the Oxford University Global Cyber Security Capacity Centre, looking at how leaders, policy makers and practitioners across the newly devolved areas can start to embed cyber awareness into their operational design and business as usual thinking.
On the growth front we’ve supported the investment of £5 million in Local Growth Fund support to help establish GM-Cyber, one of the three government supported Cyber Hubs (DCMS are supporting the start-up of the London and Cheltenham hubs). These will help stimulate the regional cyber economy, providing the wider National Cyber Security Programme with a base to engage with industry, local government and academia across the wider Northern Powerhouse.
Helping to boost local cyber defences is key to stopping bad things happening to local public services and their users. In response we’re working closely on the development and promotion of the National Cyber Security Centre’s new range of active cyber defence solutions. These will help local organisations combat the inevitable cyber attacks from hackers and cyber criminals.
With the rise of election hacking across the world it’s good to know that we’re playing our part in the government’s wider Securing Democracy work. Working with the Cabinet Office and the National Cyber Security Centre, we’ve helped produce guidance on cyber threats and how to mitigate them for local elections. As many of our local government colleagues play key frontline roles in running elections, it’s no surprise that MHCLG is helping the Cabinet Office Constitutional Secretariat by bringing key central and local partners together to look at the issue of cyber training and awareness for election staff.
If you'd like to understand more on the Think Cyber, Think Resilience campaign, come and hear James Young, Cyber Resilience Programme, MHCLG speaking at UKAuthority's Public Sector Cyber Forum on 20 September in London.
Click here to register - public sector officials can join for free.
You can also download and read more here on the Think Cyber, Think Resilience campaign.
