Jim Shannon – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2015-11-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to improve the security of mobile devices that are used to access internet banking.

Mike Penning

Through the National Cyber Security Programme, the Government committed £860 million in the last Parliament to increase the cyber security of the UK. This has included a range of work with industry to increase their cyber resilience. For example, the Cyber Essentials scheme sets out the basic technical controls organisations should have in place to protect against common cyber attacks. As the Chancellor also announced on 17 November, spending on the UK’s cyber security programmes will be almost doubled over the next five years, with £1.9 billion funding. Although Government is making a significant investment, partnership between the public and private sector is crucial to making the UK one of the safest places to do business online. By identifying and closing down vulnerabilities in their systems and processes, the private sector can make it much more difficult for criminals to operate. That is why we are working closely with the private sector to drive up standards. In the coming months we will also publish, in collaboration with industry, information to help the public better understand key cyber security principles of devices to help them to make more informed decisions. This work will be a part of the Government’s Modern Crime Prevention Strategy, which I intend to Publish next year.

At the same time, through our Cyber Streetwise campaign, we are helping to inform the public of simple security measures, such as installing security software, which in themselves can protect them and their devices against fraud.