Who should be Britain’s cyber security czar?

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Greg Day, security analyst at McAfee, said that there were huge challenges to make internet connectivity safe for the British public.

The core of the role must be about understanding the use of technology in Britain, and how it should be used safely, according to Day.

This includes knowledge about security legislation at home and internationally, through to how it should be enforced and how people should be educated, both at a school and as adults.

Day said the czar also needs to understand the complex arguments around the balance between privacy and civil liberties with law enforcement and national security. The job requires many skills, which makes it a very hard job role to fill, he added.

“It’s somebody who needs to have enough of a understanding of technology both today and where it’s likely to evolve to," said Day.

“It’s somebody that really needs to have a degree of security background to understand what the implications and fundamental premises of security. Somebody that must have some governmental experience to be able to understand those issues and define a strategy.”

Graham Cluley, security analyst at Sophos, believes that it would make sense if the czar wasn’t necessarily somebody who was known in the security industry.

He said: “This kind of role should be of banging heads together and making sure that the work gets done rather than being the ‘public face of IT security’.”

Cluley said that the head of cyber security needed to make resources available for businesses to properly defend themselves, as well as be able to raise the awareness of the problem among the general public.

However, he warned: “I wouldn’t like to see all of the problems fall on one guy’s shoulders, because it would be rather unfair."

Cluley also warned that instead of concentrating so much on the international threat, the main security issues might be closer to home.

He said: “The main problem as I see it is cleaning home user computers. Most of the world’s spam and malware is being relayed by computers within your own borders.”

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