{"id":1605,"date":"2021-05-13T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-13T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/natixis.ezine.intercountry.com\/?p=1605"},"modified":"2021-05-12T17:16:30","modified_gmt":"2021-05-12T15:16:30","slug":"uk-foreign-secretary-calls-for-cooperation-on-cybersecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/natixis.ezine.intercountry.com\/index.php\/2021\/05\/13\/uk-foreign-secretary-calls-for-cooperation-on-cybersecurity\/","title":{"rendered":"UK foreign secretary calls for cooperation on cybersecurity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Read time : 2 mins <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Level : Intermediate<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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By MIKE FULLER Associated Press<\/p>\n

LONDON (AP) \u2014 U.K. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on Wednesday urged global cooperation to combat cyberattacks by “hostile state actors” and criminal gangs.<\/p>\n

Raab also pledged<\/span> 22 million pounds ($31 million) in support to “vulnerable” countries in Africa and the Indo-Pacific to improve<\/span> their digital defense capacity.<\/p>\n

He said Britain and the West must step<\/span><\/span> up<\/span> on cybersecurity or face the “multilateral vacuum” being filled by China and Russia.<\/p>\n

“We need the combination of resilient defenses but also offensive capabilities, and the global diplomatic clout which comes with being a modern cyberpower,” Raab said in a speech at a National Cyber Security Centre conference in London.<\/p>\n

He said the funding<\/span> would go to national cyber response teams, awareness campaigns and an Interpol operations hub<\/span> in Africa.
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The foreign secretary accused Moscow and Beijing of being among the “authoritarian regimes” failing to take action against cyberattacks coming from their own soil.<\/p>\n

He said elections had become a “prime target<\/span>” for interference, with the aim of destabilizing democratic states.<\/p>\n

The Biden administration last month announced sanctions against Russia and expelled diplomats over a massive hacking campaign which targeted federal agencies, known as the SolarWinds breach<\/span>, as well as for vote meddling<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Russia, which denied involvement in the breach<\/span>, responded in kind against what it called unprovoked action.<\/p>\n

China in April denied links to work by hackers to spy for months on dozens of high-value government, defense industry and financial sector targets in the U.S. and Europe through Pulse Connect Secure devices<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Raab also highlighted attacks on COVID-19 vaccine research programs and supply chains in the U.K., as well as universities, schools and hospitals. “It seems that almost nothing is off limits for cyber criminals,” he said.<\/p>\n

Raab had met with Group of 7 foreign ministers in London earlier this month, with security high on the agenda.<\/p>\n

Top diplomats from Australia, India, South Africa and South Korea had also been invited, with Raab saying gaining the trust of “like-minded<\/span>” countries was “essential”.<\/p>