Britain steps up cyber offensive with new £250m unit to take on Russia and terrorists

Britain will step up its cyber crime offensive against the threat from Russia and terrorist groups with a new £250m joint taskforce between the Ministry of Defence and GCHQ, it was reported last night.

The unit, which will be made up of some 2,000 recruits from the military and security services industry, is set to quadruple the number of people in offensive cyber-crime roles.

They will also be expected to take on and monitor domestic crime groups as well as hostile states, The Times reported.

It comes after Britain vowed to retaliate against Russian aggression after it blamed the country for the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March. 

According to reports, defence secretary Gavin Williamson will announce the new force soon after he ordered a review.

The unit is likely to be set up at a military base as the headquarters of GCHQ in Cheltenham - home of the the Government’s top secret cyber intelligence agency - is already at full capacity.

A Government spokesman said: “The MOD and GCHQ have a long and proud history of working  together, including on the National Offensive Cyber Programme.

"We are both committed to continuing to invest in this area, given the real threats the UK faces from a range of hostile actors.”

In July, a parliamentary committee warned that ministers are failing to get to grip with the shortage in cyber security experts despite the "potentially severe implications" for national security.

MPs and peers said the situation is of "serious concern", but the Government response lacks "urgency".

In a report, they warned the WannaCry attack in May 2017, which hit the NHS, showed the need to protect critical national infrastructure (CNI) from cyber threats.

But the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy said: "We are struck by the Government's apparent lack of urgency in addressing the cyber security skills gap, which is of vital importance to both national security and the economy."

The committee said the Government and private sector was affected by the shortage in skilled cyber security workers.

Developing cyber security skills strategy should be the Government's first priority, the committee said.

"It is a pressing matter of national security that it does so," it added.

In July, a Government spokeswoman said: "We have a £1.9 billion National Cyber Security Strategy, opened the world-leading National Cyber Security Centre and continue to build on our cyber security knowledge, skills and capability."