Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to deter and punish the perpetrators of cyber-crime attacks on UK businesses.

Combating cyber crime is a core part of the National Cyber Security Strategy,
which is underpinned by the National Cyber Security Programme (NCSP) and £860
million of investment over five years. The Government has so far committed £70
million of NCSP funding to build law enforcement capabilities to tackle cyber
crime. This includes the establishment of the National Cyber Crime Unit in the
National Crime Agency (NCA), and cyber teams within each of the Regional
Organised Crime Units across England and Wales. We are also developing the
capability and awareness of local police forces. The NCA has led efforts to
arrest and disrupt cyber criminals, including warning individuals who may have
access to malicious software that they are known to the agency and that any
movement into criminality will result in action. NCSP also funds the Action
Fraud, the national reporting service for fraud and financially motivated cyber
crime, and the National Fraud Intellligence Bureau. Both of these are run by
the City of London Police, the country’s national lead force for fraud
investigations. My Rt. Hon. Friend, the Home Secretary, visited the City of
London Police earlier this month with the Member for Hove and Portslade in
order to see the good work that the force is doing.

In addition, the Government has introduced a new offence as part of the Serious
Crime Bill to capture cyber attacks which cause, or create a significant risk
of, serious damage. This will ensure that serious cyber attacks carry
sentences that reflect the impact they can have. Where cyber attacks result in
loss of life or serious damage to national security, the maximum sentence will
be life imprisonment. Where an attack results in serious economic or
environmental damage, the maximum sentence will be 14 years’ imprisonment.

Furthermore, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills has delivered a
range of measures to help protect businesses against cyber crime, including
producing best practice guidance, providing innovation vouchers to help
businesses boost their cyber defences, and delivering a campaign of
awareness-raising and behaviour change activities.