MI5 has an expensive new enemy

 

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Posted on 30 Mar 2001 at 12:47

If you believe the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, then one of the biggest threats to national security nowadays is not terrorism or the armaments of dictatorial nations but... computer hackers.

Mr Cook believes that a computer attack could be more effective in harming Britain than a military attack, the Guardian reports, given the central role of computers in all aspects of modern life - from controlling water supplies and transport to banking information systems.

But beneath the headline-generating comments - with their invocation of shadowy programmers intent on doing our county harm - lay other issues. It seems Mr Cook has some work to do to convince MPs about the expensive work of the intelligence services. A study has shown that the spending of the intelligence agencies has doubled since the end of the cold war, and the parliamentary intelligence and security committee criticised the government, yesterday, for not revealing the individual budgets of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.

So, how to justify the ever-increasing budgets? With the of days communist-related espionage fading into history, the briefs for the secret services have been in a process of adjustment to meet more "current" threats. It seems that MI5 and GCHQ are now to be presented as "our boys" in the front line of the battle against cyber crime.

As an example of the sterling work already being carried out on our behalf Mr Cook quoted the recent case of the "Kournikova virus", where a national alert was apparently issued within an hour. "That speed of response can make the difference in the modern world between stability and chaos," he said. Yes, minister.

Author: Alun Williams