The Foreign Secretary, , will warn that hostile state actors and criminal gangs
are undermining the foundations of our society and democracy, in
his first major speech on cyber.
Delivering the keynote speech at the National Cyber Security
Centre’s CYBERUK conference tomorrow (Wednesday 12 May), he will
call out malicious cyber actors as the industrial-scale vandals
of the twenty-first century.
He will set out how authoritarian regimes including North Korea,
Iran, Russia and China use digital tech to sabotage and steal,
saying:
The clash of values that is playing out today between the
countries that want to protect and preserve a system based on
open and outward looking societies, and those promoting an
authoritarian international system
We can see this clash between authoritarian and democratic states
playing out very directly, right now, in cyberspace.
He will warn that cyber-attacks pose a real risk on a daily
basis.
The Foreign Secretary is expected to say:
As schools and universities prepared to re-start face-to-face
teaching in March.
Around 80 different schools, colleges or universities were hit by
ransomware attacks… forcing some to delay the return to the
classroom.
That’s why we are working to help organisations across the UK to
protect themselves.
He is expected to say:
Hostile state actors and criminal gangs want to undermine the
foundations of our society and democracy.
And let’s be clear, when states like Russia have criminals
operating from their territory they have a responsibility to
prosecute, not shelter them.
He will conclude that there is a need to clarify how rules around
cyber activity are enforced, and guard against authoritarian
regimes bending the principles to meet their own malicious ends.
He will argue that UK tech creates jobs and protects our
security. But it also helps us to be an even stronger force for
good in the world.
That there is a need to bring together a wider coalition of
countries to shape the international rules that serve the common
good.
Our aim should be to create a cyberspace that is free, open,
peaceful and secure… for the benefit of all countries and all
people.
And secure a wider agreement on how to respond to those states
who commit malicious cyber attacks
