The British military is looking to throw a massive £1billion into AI and what’s been dubbed an army of hackers.
The Defence Secretary says the Government has plans to set up a cyber command to counter a ‘continual and intensifying’ level of cyber warfare as part of the strategic defence review.
This will help protect the UK, and give the country the option to unleash such ‘teams’ on the likes of Russia.
Defence Secretary John Healey said Government will also invest more than £1billion into a new ‘digital targeting web’ to be set up by 2027.
This is set to better connect weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster.
It could identify a threat using a sensor on a ship or in space and then disable it using an F-35 aircraft, drone, or offensive cyber operation, the Ministry of Defence said.
The Telegraph reported Healey promised to give the Armed Forces more power online to target hostile states – as he warned that ‘the keyboard has become a weapon of war’.
The cyber and electromagnetic command will be led by General Sir Jim Hockenhull to defend against cyber attacks and co-ordinate offensive moves with the national cyber force.
Defence Secretary John Healey said the Government will set up a cyber command to counter a ‘continual and intensifying’ level of cyber warfare
Mr Healey added that the Government is responding after some 90,000 cyber attacks from state-linked sources were directed at the UK’s defence over the last two years.
‘Certainly the intensity of the cyber attacks that we’re seeing from Russia stepped up, and cyber is now the leading edge, not just of defence, but of contests and tension between countries,’ he told reporters during a visit to MOD Corsham.
He said there is a ‘level of cyber warfare that is continual and intensifying’ that requires the UK to step up its capacity to defend against it.
The command will also work on electromagnetic warfare – for example, through degrading command and control, jamming signals to drones or missiles and intercepting an adversary’s communications.
Over the last five years, the National Cyber Force has carried out hacking operations on behalf of the military.
It will now coordinate offensive cyber capabilities with the new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command, which will fight enemies on the web and lead defensive operations.
Details of Britain’s offensive cyber capabilities are a secret, but action by other countries has ranged from spying on officials to installing software that forces industrial machinery to break.
Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are all believed to have hackers who work in espionage with the aim of breaking into sensitive information online, or engaging in cyber attacks.
