Tories to overhaul Cyber Security Operations Centre

David Cameron is trying to cement his party's cyber security credentials

The Conservative Party will introduce a Cyber Threat and Assessment Centre to act as a single reporting point for all cyber security incidents if it is elected.

The Tories explained in a green paper released on Friday that the new centre would be built on the existing Cyber Security Operations Centre announced last year by Gordon Brown, and will aim to provide "a common operating picture, threat assessment and situational awareness to users".

The paper argues that the current Operations Centre, which is still not operational, is ill-placed to deal with the nature of global cyber attacks because it is intended only to analyse the threats, rather than do anything about them.

"The UK needs to be able to detect and prevent attacks before they hit us. In other words, it needs a proactive and effective capability to respond to cyber attacks," the paper said.

"At the moment no organisation brings together all the arms of government to deliver a single response capability, and that is what a Conservative government will task the Cyber Security Operations Centre to do."

The document also recognised the need for intelligence sharing on cyber security threats at an international level.

Finally, the Tories mooted the idea of establishing a Cyber Challenge, which would try to encourage users to develop their IT skills and use the internet in a more responsible fashion, and perhaps even "enlarge the pool of talent available for employment in cyber-related roles".