Hostile computer attacks are classed among the most serious threats to national security
Terrorism and attacks on computer networks are set to be named as among the biggest threats to UK security.
The threats will be described in the National Security Strategy.
The strategy has been drawn up by the National Security Council, which was set up by David Cameron in May.
It will form the background for Tuesday’s Strategic Defence Review, setting out the shape of the UK’s forces after budget cuts put at 8%.
After months of study and debate, the NSC has produced a paper that identifies 16 threats to the UK.
The most serious – which they are calling “Tier 1” – comprises acts of international terrorism, hostile computer attacks on UK cyberspace, a major accident or natural hazard such as a flu pandemic, or an international military crisis between states that draws in the UK and its allies.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says that with all the recent talk of budget cuts, the government has been at pains to convince sceptics that the UK does have a national security strategy, and that this is not all just a cover for a vast cost-cutting exercise.
Whitehall officials have placed an emphasis on the need for preventing conflicts before they start.
Intelligence, counter-terrorism and cyber security are all expected to escape major cuts and in some cases may even be given fresh investment.
Last week, Iain Lobban, the head of the UK’s communications intelligence agency GCHQ, spoke of hundreds of malicious e-mails already being aimed at government computer networks each month.
He also highlighted the use of cyber techniques by countries to target each other and steal their secrets.
The BBC’s Gordon Corera says that with a quarter of a trillion e-mails being sent each day, cyberspace is becoming the new battleground.
It is one whose terrain is continually contested and which is moving to the centre of national security thinking, he adds.
Defence Secretary Liam Fox has said personnel numbers in the armed forces will “fall a bit” following the planned cuts, but said there would be no weakening of the UK’s strategic position.
The Treasury had wanted cuts of between 10% and 20% to the Ministry of Defence’s budget, but it is understood that Mr Fox has negotiated this down to 8%.
The Defence Secretary confirmed Prime Minister David Cameron had been “extraordinarily helpful” in representing the Ministry of Defence’s case during negotiations.
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