The government has announced a scheme to help UK organisations respond effectively to the increase in cyber attacks.
The scheme is backed by CESG, the Information Assurance arm of GCHQ, and the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI).
The scheme is mainly aimed at the public sector and providers of the UK’s critical national infrastructure, but may also be of assistance to the wider private sector.
In the event of an attack, the scheme will be a quality-assured service by certified providers that organisations can turn to for assistance.
The Cyber Incident Response pilot scheme includes Context Information Security, BAE Systems Detica, Cassidian, and Mandiant.
The four companies were selected to work in partnership, based on knowledge and experience, to provide response services, the government said.
Alex Church, technical director at Context said organisations notified of attacks or those interested in getting advice about detection and mitigation will now have a clear pointer to specialist help with the level of trust and quality-assurance delivered by the scheme.
The scheme builds on the 10 Steps to Cyber Security launched by the government in September and provides advice to business leaders on increasing cyber security within their own organisations. It also supports the delivery of the UK Cyber Security Strategy.
By taking this joint approach on response to cyber incidents, government said it would work with industry to nurture and grow the emerging UK cyber incident response industry in scale and expertise.
Chloe Smith, minister for cyber security, said that the growing cyber threat makes it inevitable that some attacks will get through either where basic security is not implemented, or when an organisation is targeted by a highly capable attacker.
“Together GCHQ, CPNI, the incident response industry, and victims of cyber attack – can improve the cyber security of the UK; that is good for security, good for business and good for the UK’s prosperity,” Chloe Smith said.
