Cyber crime unit opens amid surge in online attacks

BRITAIN’s first national centre for combating cyber criminals will open next week, amid rapid growth in the number of online attacks.

Terrorists, hackers and online gangs will be targeted by intelligence experts at the new National Cyber Security Centre in Victoria, central London. A team of around 700 people will help to advance the Government’s war against cyber crime.

The threat is growing, with 200 major incidents a month, double the rate last year.

The centre will be led by Ciaran Martin, formerly the director general for cyber security at GCHQ.

At a cyber security conference in Washington DC earlier this month, Mr Martin outlined plans to create a firewall that could protect government agencies and internet users against cyber attacks. He said Britain was facing twice as many “national security level cyber incidents” as this time last year.

Mr Martin said that the centre would help make the UK “the safest place to live and do business online”.

“We’ll tackle the major threats from hostile states and criminal gangs. But we’ll also work tirelessly to protect people automatically from those smaller scale and deeply damaging attacks.”

The creation of the agency was announced by George Osborne, the former chancellor, in November last year. GCHQ has said one of the centre’s first tasks will be to work with the Bank of England to provide advice to the financial sector.