Conservatives promise cyber security minister

 

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By Matthew Sparkes

Posted on 6 Mar 2008 at 14:01

The Conservative Party has today announced it will create a new ministerial role to preside over cyber security, should it come to power in the next general election.

The news comes as the shadow home secretary, David Davis, launches a report at the e-Crime congress in London that outlines how the party would tackle cyber crime, accusing the Labour Party of "ignoring the issue".

As well as the ministerial role, a new National Cybercrime Unit would be created within the police force, and a similar cybercrime unit formed within the Crown Prosecution Service.

Davis promised that the party, alongside the new cybercrime departments, would do everything necessary to promote "the future security, economic and personal interests of this country".

"Every person, business or Government agency that uses a computer or has their information anywhere in the public domain should be aware of the potential danger associated with this [cyber crime]," says Greg Day, security analyst at McAfee.

"As we spend more time in the cyber world it's a very logical thing that crime follows us there. It's only going to get worse."

Cyber security is currently a controversial topic for the government, as several recent data losses have embarrassed various government departments including the DVA, MoD and HRMC.

The most recent data loss occurred when confidential, but encrypted data was discovered on a disk hidden under the keyboard of a laptop in a computer repair shop. The laptop reportedly once belonged to the Home Office, but was later bought on Ebay.

David Davis wrote a column for PC Pro last year, in which he criticised the government for taking a "lacklustre approach" to e-crime.