The UK Government has launched its long-awaited Online Harms whitepaper, outlining the government’s plans to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online. The legislative and non-legislative measures outline in the whitepaper will make sure that companies are more responsible for their users’ safety online, especially children and other vulnerable groups. According to NCC Group, the proposals strike the right balance between enforcing a duty of care and agile regulation, but the global cyber security expert encourages the government to underpin these with a strategic educational program around online safety.
Experts Comments:
Ollie Whitehouse, Global Chief Technical Officer at NCC Group:
“From our perspective, the UK will only become the safest place in the world to be online when regulations are underpinned by a strategic educational programme that empowers people to make good decisions online. As such, we would encourage the government to ensure that its pledge to include online safety education in school curricula from 2020 does not happen in isolation.
“We believe that online safety awareness should serve as a natural first step to engaging young people with careers in cyber security. By not only teaching children to recognise the dangers of the internet, but also giving them the tools to go and fight those dangers, the UK has a clear opportunity to drive the next generation of cyber talent, and strengthen the nation’s overall cyber resilience.”
