Britain to double funding for cyber security: finance minister

Britain plans to double its funding to fight cyber crimes over five years, as part of the efforts to combat terrorism in the digital world, British Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said Tuesday.

Speaking at the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the country's major intelligence and security agency, Osborne announced that he made a provision to almost double Britain's investment to protect the country from cyber attacks and develop sovereign capabilities in cyberspace.

The investment, totaling 1.9 billion pounds (about 2.89 billion U.S. dollars), will be included in the British government's spending review to be published next week.

"For our country, defending our citizens from hostile powers, criminals or terrorists, the internet represents a critical axis of potential vulnerability," said the British finance minister.

The announcement came after a series of terrorist attacks killed 129 people in bars, restaurants, a concert hall and at a stadium in Paris last week.

In the speech, Osborne noted that ISIL's murderous brutality has a strong digital element.

ISIL, also known as the Islamic State (IS), "are already using the internet for hideous propaganda purposes; for radicalization, for operational planning too," he said.

Osborne also revealed that GCHQ is monitoring cyber threats from "high end adversaries" against 450 companies across the aerospace, defense, energy, water, finance, transport and telecoms sectors.

Last summer, he added, GCHQ dealt with 100 cyber national security incidents per month, and the figure increased to 200 a month this summer.

"Each of these attacks damages companies, their customers, and the public's trust in our collective ability to keep their data and privacy safe," he said. Endit