Hackers within ISIS are plotting to attack airports, hospitals and Britain’s electricity supply, George Osborne will warn today.
The chancellor will deliver this warning in a speech today at spy base GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters), where he’ll unveil a £1.9 billion spending boost for online security by 2020.
Speaking about the dangers of such an attack the chancellor warns:
If our electricity supply, or our air traffic control, or our hospitals were successfully attacked online, the impact could be measured not just in terms of economic damage but of lives lost.
The Chancellor is also set to say ISIS, use the internet for “evil” while most people use creatively and to make the world a better place.
He will also make it clear that the internet is a powerful tool of propaganda for ISIS and plays a key role in their recruitment and radicalisation.
However he cautions that ISIS aren’t in a position to be attacking just yet saying: “They do not yet have that capability. But we know they want it, and are doing their best to build it.”
And that the government is committed to “tackling their (ISIS) cyber threat as well as the threat of their guns, bombs and knives”.
To help tackle ISIS the Home Secretary, Theresa May, confirmed yesterday that 1,900 new officers will be recruited to spy agencies MI5, MI6 and the GCHQ.
More of a concept than a journalist, Tom Percival was forged in the bowels of Salford University from which he emerged grasping a Masters in journalism.
Since then his rise has been described by himself as ‘meteoric’ rising to the esteemed rank of Social Editor at UNILAD as well as working at the BBC, Manchester Evening News, and ITV.
He credits his success to three core techniques, name repetition, personality mirroring, and never breaking off a handshake.