Brands such as Adidas warned of cyber vigilante menace
Cabinet minister Francis Maude will today pull no punches when he avails MPs of the latest threats posed by hackers, enemy states and cyber criminals when he outlines the coalition’s cyber security strategy.
Maude is expected to warn that increasingly sophisticated hackers now pose a greater threat than ever to big name brands and critical national infrastructure, harbouring the ability to bring down websites on a daily basis.
Officials warn that big name brands such as Adidas are at risk from petty vendettas from fans irked that their favourite football team has been beaten by rivals wearing Adidas branded shirts.
The government is attempting to meet these challenges with the establishment of a £650m cybersecurity programme with the twin tasks of protecting UK national interests and selling expertise abroad.
Maude said: “I was speaking to adidas earlier this summer and to them it’s just a daily routine. They’re a global company and somewhere they get some attack on one of their websites because they’ve annoyed somebody whose team has lost to one wearing adidas.
“That sort of activity is sort of the norm and they have to prepare against that. The frequency of such relatively low-level attacks was also increasing.”