Britain opts out of NATO cyber centre

Friday, July 24, 2009

Britain will not take part in a NATO cyber security and warfare scheme due to the conflicting interests that participation would cause with other government departments and allies.

NATO members Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Spain are all sponsoring a cyber defence and warfare centre that is being setup in Estonia to conduct research on what is expected to be a major part of the future of warfare. The centre is also expected to monitor suspected cyber attacks, study how to firm up NATO cyber defences, and train military officials in offensive and defensive cyber activities.

Britain however will not take part in the initiative nor will it supply any MoD staff to help operate the centre.

According to Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth, this decision is "due to the need to co-ordinate cyber defence with a number of other government departments and allies."

Britain is taking steps on its own to develop a cyber security strategy. It is expected to involve the intelligence agencies and the MoD. While Britain is open to trading ideas and intelligence with the NATO cyber security centre, there are concerns that deeper involvement would only add another layer of bureaucracy to a cyber defence and warfare strategy.

Russia, China and North Korea have all made inroads into cyber warfare in the last few years. A number of major hacking incidents in Whitehall were allegedly attributed to the People's Liberation Army in China. North Korea has already launched several cyber attacks on South Korea in recent months and any provocation over their nuclear weapons programme could lead to attacks further afield. Estonia, the host of the cyber defence centre was crippled by Russian hackers in 2007 during a dispute over an old Soviet war memorial.

Britain is following the US's lead in setting up a cyber warfare centre that is jointly run by the intelligence agencies and the military.