International Trade Secretary will launch the government’s
new Cyber Security Export
Strategy today (Monday 26 March) to promote the UK’s
world-leading expertise and strengthen defence capabilities in
the UK and allied countries.
With recent cyber attacks threatening NATO countries as well as
large global and UK organisations, the government is urging
businesses from both the UK and allied countries to ensure they
have the best security possible.
Dr Fox said today’s strategy will help the UK’s 800 cyber
security companies to win contracts that provide security for
high profile international buyers and protect networks across the
world.
UK cyber exports overall totalled £1.5bn in 2016, and global
demand for software products to protect digital systems from
vulnerabilities continues to grow, with total spend expected to
exceed £759 billion by 2021.
This new cyber security export
strategy supports the ongoing work of the 2016 National Cyber
Security Strategy. The 2016 strategy provided £1.9 billion of
transformative investment in cyber security, which is being used
alongside more conventional land, maritime and air capabilities,
to meet these threats head-on.
International Trade Secretary, , said:
Recent events show that the UK faces a diverse range of threats
from hostile state actors. So in an increasingly digital world,
it’s vital that we improve our cyber capabilities, which are
crucial for national security and prosperity.
The strategy I am publishing today will support UK companies to
export our world-leading cyber security expertise, which will
help strengthen our capabilities, and protect our country and
our allies from those who wish us harm.
This new strategy has been developed with industry and comes with
robust export control regimes which will safeguard human rights.
The launch is backed by ADS, the UK trade association for the
security sector, who say the export strategy is an important step
to help the UK’s world-leading cyber security companies reach new
markets and continue to grow.
ADS Chief Executive, Paul Everitt, said:
Public and private organisations in the UK and around the world
are facing rapidly evolving cyber security threats. In the UK
we have a diverse range of companies able to provide
world-leading expertise and innovation to combat these threats.
The UK’s cyber security exports are already worth £1.5bn a year
and we expect this area of activity to continue offering the
strongest export growth in the security sector in the years
ahead.
This new strategy announced today can help the sector continue
to grow, make a greater contribution to national prosperity,
and protect the UK and our allies from threats in cyberspace.
-ENDS-
Background
The strategy follows the Department for Digital,
Culture, Media and Sport’sinvestment in 2 world-class cyber
innovation centres in Cheltenham and London. The ground-breaking
partnership between government and tech start-ups will develop
world-leading technologies to protect the UK and organisations
overseas from cyber attacks.
The Cyber Security Export
Strategy sets out 3 commitments from the Department for
International Trade (DIT) to UK cyber
companies:
-
Pursue: in priority markets DIT will act
as a trusted advisor to support UK companies bidding for
major opportunities, primarily selling to overseas
governments and critical national infrastructure providers.
-
Enable: DIT will
curate bespoke offers for the top buyers in these sectors
worldwide, running trade missions and pitching UK companies
to address identified capability gaps.
-
Respond: to showcase the best of UK cyber security updated
branding and marketing will be developed and deployed around
the globe alongside new cyber security content
on great.gov.uk.
