Cybercrime , Fraud Management & Cybercrime , Geo Focus: The United Kingdom

UK to Continue Disruptive Actions Targeting Cybercrime

The British government will continue disruptive actions against ransomware and malware operators, a top U.K. government official vowed on Wednesday.

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Stephen Doughty, Minister of State, said the recently elected U.K. government views security as a core pillar of economic and strategic growth.

"There's no national security, no economic security without cybersecurity, and investing in cybersecurity and promoting responsible behavior is the central part of this mission," Doughty said while speaking at a Royal United Services Institute conference.

Doughty said the government's approach to cybersecurity is shaped by its commitment to a United Nations framework for "responsible state behavior in cyberspace" that calls on nations to stymie malicious use and to facilitate information sharing to identify threat actors.

As part of its commitment to the framework, the government has focused on building partnerships to ensure "safe and responsible use of cyber capabilities," worldwide. These partnerships have led to many successful actions including a slew of arrests, indictments, sanctions and server takedowns announced earlier this month that targeted the Russian cybercriminal underground (see: LockBit and Evil Corp Targeted in Anti-Ransomware Crackdown).

"Our work with Interpol in Africa, across the Indo-Pacific and indeed, Latin America, tackling cybercrime, building closer cross-border partnerships. In Africa, this partnership has helped to smash 20,000 criminal networks and seize illegal funds worth more than 40 million US dollars," Doughty said.

Doughty although added unregulated markets for commercial spyware continue to be a challenge for governments across the world, including the U.K. He added the U.K. government is tapping into experts from the private sector academia and non-profits for a "hand in glove" approach to address threats posed by spyware and other cyberthreats (see: US, UK and France Pressure Commercial Spyware Industry).