The Conservative party blamed the government for
cybersecurity threats yesterday as it launched its cybersecurity
roadmap.
Eleanor Laing MP, Conservative shadow justice minister, told
delegates at the
Connected
Nottingham conference on computer security: "The United Kingdom
is coming to be seen as the sick man of cyber security."
People were worried about giving out their personal data, she
said, after warning of malicious e-mails, viruses, spam, phishing
attacks, botnets, pharming, online fraud, and ID fraud and
organised crime gangs.
"The scandal of this is that much of it is the government's
doing," Eleanor Laing said."The government is actually hindering
the development of digitalised economies by providing a feeling of
all-pervasive mistrust."
Laing linked cybersecurity with what she termed "the
surveillance society". ID cards would create a Wild West where gold
fever is replaced by data fever, and should be scrapped.
"The UK will become a utopia to online gangs, endangering the
security of digital britain irreversibly," she said. "The
government is handing out green cards to ID fraudsters," she
added.
Laing proposed a minister responsible for data security in each
government department, increased powers for the information
commissioner and security clauses for government procurement
contracts. She said government data powers should only be ensured
through primary legislation, and public cybersecurity, which she
called "a fragmented jigsaw" under the present government, should
be better co-ordinated.