§ Mrs. LaitTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has to introduce security standards to meet the challenge posed by information warfare techniques to United Kingdom telecommunications. [61671]
§ Mrs. RocheInformation warfare, like all criminal behaviour, impacts upon any organisation or business which makes use of information technology. The development of a British Standard BS 7799, which focuses on the Code of Practice for Information Security Management, introduced in 1994 was spearheaded by the Department to promote good information security management. The DTI is currently developing, with BSUDISC and industry, c:cure, a scheme which will allow organisations, of all sizes and sectors, to measure and demonstrate that their information security management system is compliant against BS 7799.
Standards will also be an integral part of the EU's Electronic Signature Directive, and of the proposed UK legislation to support our policy on cryptography, but, of course, no matter what is made available, the use of these standards and the adoption of appropriate security controls is a commercial decision for businesses to make.