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UK Launches Dedicated Cyber Security Agency

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the bet-they-get-free-foil-hats dept.

Jack Spine writes "The UK government is launching an office dedicated to cyber attack and defence. The Office of Cyber Security will focus on protecting Britain's IT infrastructure, and will be similar to the US Cyber Command model. While the Pentagon Cyber Command will be lead by the NSA, the UK Cyber Security Operations Centre, which will coordinate UK cyber efforts, will be based at GCHQ in Cheltenham."

60 comments

  1. Thought Police? by xdor · · Score: 2

    Will this department handle weeding out dissenters or is that a different section?

    1. Re:Thought Police? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

      When the Thought Police are knocking on your door, think "I'm not home".

      --
      echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
    2. Re:Thought Police? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Given that it's run by GCHQ, that will probably be some other department. GCHQ is full of competent people and manages to be a lot more successfully apolitical than other parts of the security service. Probably because they already know all of the elected politicians' dirty secrets. These are the guys who invented RSA decades before it was first published, not the guys who leave briefcases full of classified documents on trains.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    3. Re:Thought Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Just look at all the bleedin aerials on that van! I wonder if they will sell me a fish license as well!

    4. Re:Thought Police? by hughk · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Funnily enough, I have met some people who worked for GCHQ. They are very competent, they do not talk directly about their work but sometimes you may end up a conversation where they may believe you are in a similar line of business and may drop the odd comment that makes you think they work in the 'doughnut'. It has a problem in that they are limited by UK civil servant salaries and that it is probably the most secretive of UK organisations in that it is heavily compartmentalised. The guys who invented public-key cryptography before Diffie-Hellman and RSA were limited by these walls and didn't realise that it could be commercially interesting.

      --
      See my journal, I write things there
    5. Re:Thought Police? by Sulphur · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      After 5 seconds in the 'microwave', the 'doughnut' is fresh and tasty. The cut-out is the nut-hole. The 'croissant' and the 'bagel' are not yet compromised. The 'hot-dog' is a little raw. Greetings from Czarist America

    6. Re:Thought Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Was the man from the Ministry of Housinge?

    7. Re:Thought Police? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      GCHQ's unique qualities are being more secretive and having single-minded employees more accepting that they're "only following orders" than the rest of the services. A specific competence is of little value without constant reflection on one's work, and one brilliant mathematical device discovered decades ago is no reflection of your organisation's current ability or utility. This service is mostly a sink for Oxbridge mathematicians and linguists who lack the balls for the City, imagination for a start-up or selflessness of academia, but who still want the gratifying sense of superiority and power which Oxbridge (well, Oxford certainly does) pounds into you.

      To accuse part of the UK civil service of being "apolitical" is only to imply, with a nod of deference to Yes Minister, that it holds the reins and ignores its bosses: the politicians who should represent the people. If your politicians are corrupt, you don't improve things by reinforcing the problem of a civil service which answers to no-one.

    8. Re:Thought Police? by Sulphur · · Score: 1

      define: 'Doughnut' as the working part of the agency (as above). 'Microwave' as the administration. Name the French and Israeli services working areas as the 'croissant' and the 'bagel.' As for the 'hot-dog', that would be the U.S. "Marzipam to birthday-cake, over." The Spy with the Cold Nose.

    9. Re:Thought Police? by KingBenny · · Score: 0

      Are they part of the ministry of silly walks ?

      --
      Free speech was meant to be free for all... how can anyone grow up in a nanny state ?
  2. So pretty much the same... by ducomputergeek · · Score: 1

    GCHQ is basically the UK NSA. So it looks like the cousins plans are pretty much the same as ours.

    --
    "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
    1. Re:So pretty much the same... by digitalchinky · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There are 5 of these agencies, they all share information. Expect other countries to follow along with the same types of press release. In practical terms, these agencies are already viewed as the leading authorities on this topic anyway. They each have many hundreds of domestic customers, and their public websites are indicative of them providing information of this nature when requested. These particular press releases are likely naught more than political maneuvering anyway. Probably just to 'remind' a particular foreign government or two that they are on top of the game.

      CSE (Canada)
      DSD (Australia)
      GCHQ (UK)
      GCSB (New Zealand)
      NSA (USA)

    2. Re:So pretty much the same... by poetmatt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I wonder if this bears a ton of significance considering the timing of the US equivalent being appointed ?

    3. Re:So pretty much the same... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      I agree, for example, the government has been running a training/certfication programme for penetration tests of classified networks for getting on for 10+ years...http://www.cesg.gov.uk/products_services/iacs/check/index.shtml. They shouldn't get complacent, but they generally run ahead of the curve.

  3. The good guys using DDoS? by Fzz · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From TFA:

    The government will develop information systems to allow it to launch denial-of-service attacks and to spy on chosen targets, said the official. "We will have a whole range of offensive capabilities, including distributed denial-of-service," said the official. "DDoS is not a first response -- we definitely need graduated responses."

    You might have thought it would be better to fund development of mechanisms to prevent or mitigate DDoS attacks, rather than rely on using them. The bad guys will always be able to command more bots than any legal response could.

    1. Re:The good guys using DDoS? by networkconsultant · · Score: 1

      The great firewall of britian has determined you are french and thus are not allowed in. :P

    2. Re:The good guys using DDoS? by janwedekind · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You might have thought it would be better to fund development of mechanisms to prevent or mitigate DDoS attacks, rather than rely on using them. The bad guys will always be able to command more bots than any legal response could.

      You also might have thought it would be better to prevent Microsoft Windows rather than using it. But I guess it's too late in both cases because the stuff is owned, licensed, and controlled by third parties.

    3. Re:The good guys using DDoS? by Dragoness+Eclectic · · Score: 1

      *laughs*

      That's like saying gangsters can command more guns than any legal response--in a war zone. Against the military.

      This is government and national security that's being discussed, in a war situation. I don't think they actually care what the legal options for civilians vs. criminals are. Military law and treaties are what's relevant here.

      Is there anything in the Geneva Convention or military law that stops the government from using every possible computer to take down an enemy attacker's infrastructure and attack capability? I don't think so.

      --
      ---dragoness
  4. Re:Freshen Ya Drink, Govna? by Hal_Porter · · Score: 2, Funny

    Fixed Penalty Notice for Trolling

    £100

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  5. We just do... by EddyPearson · · Score: 3, Insightful

    ...what the US tells us to, don't we?

    *sigh*

    --
    You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
    1. Re:We just do... by elrous0 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Tell me, is there anything in your life you DON'T blame the U.S. for?

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    2. Re:We just do... by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Celine Dion.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    3. Re:We just do... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I find it very difficult to think of something that the US doesn't poke it head into. Of course, it comes with a share of blame/praise for any negative or positive outcomes.

    4. Re:We just do... by mtremsal · · Score: 1

      Maybe it happened the other way round...

      Kidding.

    5. Re:We just do... by networkconsultant · · Score: 0, Troll

      Well they did rebuild your country after WWII.

    6. Re:We just do... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly, the US made the UK into a police state.

      No wait. That's retarded. Never mind.

    7. Re:We just do... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Not sure why you're kidding. There's a lot of that kind of thing going on between the UK and US governments. Typically, someone on one side of the pond has a moderately good idea. Someone on the other side takes it to its logical conclusion. Someone back on the first side takes it a bit further. Then, they harmonise their efforts by taking it to ridiculous extremes.

      It's fun to blame Americans for everything (and, let's face it, they are so easy to bait), but often we're as much to blame for their stupid behaviour as we are for theirs. Take the Iraq war fiasco, for example. The US and UK intelligence services met up, and admitted to each other that they didn't really have much evidence. Both sides went back and said to their superiors something along the lines of 'we don't have much evidence, but they've got this and we think they've got some more serious evidence that they don't want to share with us for national security reasons'. These then made it into reports to politicians. A few years later, they both realised that both sides were telling the truth (unheard of in intelligence circles) and they really didn't know anything.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    8. Re:We just do... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Err... No?

    9. Re:We just do... by EddyPearson · · Score: 1

      ...Blame?

      Where did you get that from?

      --
      You feel sleepy. Close your eyes. The opinions stated above are yours. You cannot imagine why you ever felt otherwise.
  6. I'm from the UK! by neokushan · · Score: 1

    Anyone else want to cyber with me?

    --
    +1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
    1. Re:I'm from the UK! by lxs · · Score: 1

      Yeah baby secure me!

    2. Re:I'm from the UK! by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 1

      I hear this guy is quite hawt4dag1rl5.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
  7. Just like 24 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As in 24 teeth remaining.

  8. Thankfully the UK,... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...sporting the absolutely worst, most under-developed IT infrastructure in the developed world, will have little to keep check on. Lucky bstrds and their "1mbps Top Tier High-Speed(tm)" ADSL network.

    1. Re:Thankfully the UK,... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Lucky bstrds and their "1mbps Top Tier High-Speed(tm)" ADSL network

      My mother, living in the middle of nowhere in rural England gets 1Mb/s ADSL. Those of us nearer cities get a lot more. I'm on 10Mb/s (closer to 8.8 in practice), with my ISP offering speeds up to 50Mb/s. Most cities also have 24Mb/s ADSL2.

      I think you are confusing network infrastructure with government projects. Typically, an IT project in the UK follows this process:

      1. Open for bids.
      2. Appoint EDS because they have the most experience in government IT contracts.
      3. EDS goes over budget.
      4. EDS fails to deliver anything.
      5. EDS adds another entry to the list of government projects they've completed for entry with the next bid.
      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    2. Re:Thankfully the UK,... by arethuza · · Score: 1

      I would have laughed at that if it wasn't so typical of large UK government projects.

    3. Re:Thankfully the UK,... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sometimes it's Crapita instead of EDS, but otherwise this is totally accurate.

      The government really only have themselves to blame, their tendering process is so complex that only specialist fuckups like these two bother with it. Also, for some INCREDIBLY STUPID reason they announce the "preferred bidder" early on in the cycle. They can then sit back and start padding the hell out of their fictional budget estimates, safe in the knowledge that they'll get the project no matter how terrible they are.

      Appropriate captcha.

  9. Torchwood? by Chrisq · · Score: 1

    Torchwood? They've coped with the cybermen before.

  10. Re:Tony Blair: The Son of Satan +1, True by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    tl;dr

  11. Re:Tony Blair: The Son of Satan +1, True by bothemeson · · Score: 0

    Blair which?

  12. Naughty boys by PhilHibbs · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Lord West:

    "You need youngsters who are deep into this stuff... If they have been slightly naughty boys, very often they really enjoy stopping other naughty boys," he said.

    1. Re:Naughty boys by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      "You need youngsters who are deep into this stuff... If they have been slightly naughty boys, very often they really enjoy stopping other naughty boys," he said.

      I'd rather stop the government getting ever-more control over and intrusion into my life.

      --
      == Jez ==
      Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
    2. Re:Naughty boys by hughk · · Score: 1

      The problem is that it is very difficult for anyone whio has been a naughty boy to work for such an agency.

      --
      See my journal, I write things there
    3. Re:Naughty boys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      The problem is that it is very difficult for anyone whio has been a naughty boy to work for such an agency.

      Sometimes you feel like making your own pizza. Other times, you just feel like making a phone call. I'm told Anonymous delivers.

    4. Re:Naughty boys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup, they probably don't want just script kiddies.
      I'd Guess they'd want someone with a degree from the right university or have connections.
      Getting a job right now sux, even worse if you have a criminal record.

    5. Re:Naughty boys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A/C for obvious reasons.

      True story:

      I interviewed with the DoD--twice, and was turned down both times. I thought most of the interview and checks went great except for one jackass in the middle. Fortunately, being the gov't--you can file a PA request (the idiots gave me the SSNs of my friends the PI interviewed as part of it--it just goes to show the government can't get anything right). Nearly a year later I got a 100 page envelope with all types of irrelevant things--psych profiles, interview notes, parts of the polygraph analysis... All the names of the people that interviewed me were redacted, and that was about it other than some weird registration numbers.

      Also--they had indexed my application by my selective service registration #. If anyone working there reads this--can you please tell me how you index applicants without a Y chromosome?

      According to the paperwork, I was "recommended denial" (turned down?) primarily because:
          1) I had pirated software
          2) My introduction to the 'hacker' community began when I was ~14. I should have waited until I was college and learned from the professors.

      For the record--I complained to the interviewer that my "professors" in the DoD program were incompetent (Fyodor: People with PhD's taught dozens of undergrads nmap was a rootkit until I lost my temper and corrected them). Evidently getting a competent education is not as important as being officially indoctrinated.

      Nevermind difficult for anyone being "a little naughty" to get in--it's freaking impossible for someone with any real experience to get in.

  13. Breaking News! by owlnation · · Score: 1, Funny

    The Daily Telegraph and Guido Fawkes report their websites have suddenly gone down.

    Google also appears to be unable to retrieve searches for "MP's Expenses", "Iraq War Public Enquiry", "Is John Bercow the modern Incitatus?", "UK CCTV", "Metropolitan Police brutality", or "MOD data left on hard disc on train", amongst many other things...

    1. Re:Breaking News! by dintech · · Score: 1

      The following is also returning 0 hits:

      "Gordon Brown" "Susan Boyle"

  14. Logo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    But will they have as good a logo as the Office of Government Commerce?

  15. Talk about internal rivalry! by Sockatume · · Score: 1

    They're going to have to work hard to keep up with the brave efforts of the rest of the government to completely undermine whatever data security actually exists. Leaving unencrypted information on a train? What can man do against such reckless incompetence?

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  16. Re:Tony Blair: The Son of Satan +1, True by gubers33 · · Score: 1

    You do know Tony Blair isn't even in office anymore it is Gordon Brown.

    --
    Just because you are wrong and I called you out on it doesn't mean I am a Troll.
  17. A good way to sink more money ! by gygy · · Score: 1

    A good way to sink more money ! Has anyone see a cyberterrorist ?

  18. Cyber security takes down websites by Wowsers · · Score: 1

    The UK has the BEST cyber security known, in the weekend when people MOST have time to do any work to fill in or request this that or other form on a UK government website, they find the website is taken down "for maintenence", every weekend, week in week out. So much for a 24/7 365 information economy the government keep on BS'ing about.

    --
    Take Nobody's Word For It.
  19. Re:Freshen Ya Drink, Govna? by masshuu · · Score: 1

    +----------+
    |  PLEASE  |
    |  DO NOT  |
    | FEED THE |
    |  TROLLS  |
    +----------+
        |  |
        |  |
      .\|.||/..

    --
    O.o