William Hague rings the cyber attack alarm, again

THE UK Foreign Secretary William Hague has for the third time in recent months warned about the threat of cyber attacks from overseas and the UK's readiness to respond effectively.

In his speech, called "Securing our Future", Hague discussed the role of secret intelligence in Britain's foreign policy, adding that it was important to talk about the usually secretive work done in the area, but only if you did so under a veil of secrecy.

"I believe it is vital that the British public and Parliament have confidence in the Agencies' ability to keep us safe and to do so within the framework of the law," he said.

"But I cannot speak about the Agencies the way I talk about the Foreign Office, and nor would you expect me to. Intelligence operations are secret and must remain so."

The work must be secret because the threats aimed at the UK are done so secretly. "We need a covert capability to monitor threats and to contribute to timely action against them," he added.

Some of the work done by the Foreign office and its shadowy arms involves working with overseas organisations, and again Hague said that it was important that he didn't say too much on what happens. Other than that it was important.

"The constant evolution of cyberspace is introducing additional complexity to foreign affairs. The same digital means that are bringing hope and opportunity to millions around the world and fuelling change in the Middle East also empower terrorists, criminals and some states with new means of attack and organisation," he added.

"In this period of uncertainty and turbulence it is important that our foreign policy ranges further afield to look for new partners and to tackle global challenges. Working with our allies around the world, our intelligence agencies work closely together to safeguard the UK against future cyber threats and attacks, to exploit cyber tools and applications and to develop operations online."

Hague has frequently spoken about foreign attacks, and about having a £650m war chest for fighting cyber attacks, but curiously this figure did not come up again. Perhaps, in between all the back-slapping there is another message, one about the need to flush the organisations with more cash and more power.

"We have brought forward a Justice and Security Green Paper to strengthen our legal arrangements and Parliamentary and independent oversight of the Intelligence Agencies," he added.

"The justice system is not currently equipped to pass judgement in national security cases involving information so sensitive that it cannot be disclosed in a courtroom. Our proposals are intended to ensure that the mainstream civil court system is equipped to hear national security cases where disclosure of material would be damaging to the public interest."

Hague would like to see legislation introduced that speeds up the legal system for dealing with cases of "national security" and keeps elements of cases, such as sensitive information, private. "This would only be used in exceptional instances where it is critical to the case," he assured, but we all know what that means.

"Some argue that this proposal runs counter to the principles of open justice," he added, "The Government understands that open justice is a fundamental attribute of our democracy, and that it should only be departed from when it is strictly necessary to achieve the proper administration of justice." Again, we all know what that means. µ