Everyone has a role to play in cyber security, and the NCSC has the right pedigree to co-ordinate and balance the efforts of government, industry and academia, says GCHQ director Robert Hannigan.
Getting people to understand cyber security has been the biggest challenge for outgoing GCHQ director Robert Hannigan since he took charge at the intelligence agency in 2014.
“The baseline of understanding across society and across government is still very low,” he told the CyberUK conference in Liverpool convened by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
“We need to change that, and it will take time,” he said. “But people will look back in another 10 years and ask why more wasn’t done earlier by governments to clear out all the rubbish.”
This is what the NCSC is beginning to do with its “ active defence ” programme, which includes blocking spam email messages that appear to come from a government department.
