The Foreign Secretary, , has announced £22 million of new investment to build
cyber security resilience in developing countries and globally,
particularly in Africa and the Indo-Pacific.
As part of this the UK, jointly with INTERPOL, is setting up a
new cyber operations hub in Africa working across Ethiopia,
Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda to support joint operations
against cyber crime.
Speaking at the National Cyber Security Centre’s CYBERUK
conference he outlined the UK’s vision of being a leading
responsible cyber power, working with partners to shape
cyberspace according to our values.
In his speech, the Foreign Secretary said:
We are working with like-minded partners, to make sure that the
international order that governs cyber is fit for purpose.
Our aim should be to create a cyberspace that is free, open,
peaceful and secure, and which benefits all countries and all
people.
We want to see international law respected in cyberspace, just
as we would anywhere else. And we need to show how the rules
apply to these changes in technology, the changes in threats,
and the systemic attempts to render the internet a lawless
space.
The £22m investment in cyber capacity building will target
countries in Africa, the Commonwealth and Indo-Pacific,
transforming their resilience by helping build national emergency
response teams and promoting future leadership by funding new
Chevening scholarships.
The new Interpol desk will work across Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya,
Nigeria and Rwanda, creating a regional strategy to support joint
operations against cybercrime, and strengthen African states’
capability to combat the crime and those behind it. With some of
the fastest growing economies in the world, Africa has become a
target for opportune cybercriminals.
By creating a central coordination desk within INTERPOL that law
enforcement across Africa can use, the UK hopes to improve
collaboration across borders to advance intelligence sharing, and
ultimately stop the perpetrators of cybercrime in Africa.
