Digital economy minister Ed Vaizey today announced a £500,000 fund for universities and colleges to teach cyber security skills, in order to protect Britain’s businesses and public services.
Speaking at the Financial Times’ Cyber Security Europe Summit, the minister said that the government treats cyber security "as a tier one threat to national security", and praised the UK’s "world leading cyber security industry."
At the same event, Vaizey also announced that over 1,000 businesses have now adopted the Cyber Essentials standard to help protect them from common web threats, the latest being Intel Security. It is now mandatory for any firm bidding for a government contract to have met the CyberEssentials standard, Vaizey said.
Underlining the importance of robust cyber security to businesses, Vaizey said that nine out of 10 large businesses have suffered a breach in the last year. ""The cyber security threat remains obviously very significant," he commented.
The UK government has invested £860m into the National Cyber Security Programme since 2011.
