back to article Plans to move gov online 'lack cyber-security', say MPs

MPs have expressed serious concern about a lack of cyber-security plans detailed in the government's IT and communications strategy. A Public Accounts Committee report warned that the "ambitious" plans laid out by the Cabinet Office in March this year needed further clarity. "The strategy only makes one reference to cyber- …

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  1. dave 46

    More government pork?

    Sounds like a good time to get that evening class in 'cyber security'.

    Make sure it says 'cyber security' though else they won't know you're the man for that 6 figure government job.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    WTF?

    Password security

    Given the recent news about common PIN numbers, security should be a major factor in any IT system which will hold extremely private information.

    Maybe the government need some help in understanding the issues around secure passwords - some useful information can be found here - http://www.annaraccoon.com/uncategorized/i-know-your-password/

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Facepalm

    One day....

    ...when I become the government boss of this sort of thing I shall lay down the first commandment.

    "Anyone who tacks `cyber` onto a word while I am in charge gets a cricket bat paddling''

    1. Jonathan Richards 1
      Stop

      'sworse than that...

      In my neck of the woods people are just saying "cyber", on its own. One is meant to fill in the blanks around this truncated adjective (orig. cybernetic) to come up with nouns or noun phrases that may or may not be similar in meaning to whatever was passing through the speaker's alleged mind at the time of utterance.

      Thus: "We are being asked how this relates to cyber". "Cyber is important for the future strategy ".

      Cue comments about language being a living thing etc. etc. However, words are only useful if they actually convey a meaning. For me, "cyber" does not.

      1. Dave Murray
        Happy

        cyber title must contain letters and numbers

        Just react to all these "cyber" comments as if what they said was cyber sex. Those people will soon learn to say what they mean.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    Sorted!

    It's okay - Google is doing that part as well :-)

  5. Gannon (J.) Dick
    Holmes

    Epic Fail Exchange

    'It also stressed concerns about British citizens being left behind because of the Cabinet Office's bold "digital-by-default" plans.

    "The government plans to move more public services online and, rightly, to stress the importance of designing services around the needs of the user. However, approximately nine million people have never used the internet, and they must not be excluded," it said.'

    This is creepy to me as an American. I had assumed an "MP" was a Politician. Apparently they can cross-breed with intelligent life. Probably does not happen often, but still; creepy.

    I think "digital-by-default" has the same marginalization danger which those away from the seat of political power have always had. "No taxation without Representation"; Americans tried to tell Parliament that once.

    Commercialization leads to a digital map missing some colonies:

    - The Irish type "Bad Market" (i.e. unEnglish people here.)

    - The Newcastle type "Bad Market" (i.e. don't buy as much coal as they should)

    In principle, the solution is simple - just make sure you do not mistake "digital-by-default" for "good-markets-only-by-default". Beware Private Sector requirements as they are incomplete.

  6. Mr Young
    WTF?

    MPs act in public interest?

    Nope - I just can't get my head round that concept. They must be pretending?

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Paris Hilton

    @ "Epic Fail Exchange"

    Truth is it is UK civil servantry that really run UK whatever political party is elected.

    The civil servants more or less present options to Ministers, MPs which might undergo a minor amendment or tweak in order to be voted in with a shade of party policy or overview ironed in.

    1. Gannon (J.) Dick
      Unhappy

      Thanks, AC

      That is much as I thought (and hoped). American Civil Servants, especially in IT, play a much different game, and the web has had a different effect. The "old" tools marginalized the poor, who weren't allowed to starve as that was considered bad form. The "new" BigTable tools, proffered by a Civil Servant's future employer, marginalize the least-economically-active, swapping one bad form for another, hence an exchange of failures.

      Having a powerful Civil Service does not look like a good thing to Greece, at the moment, but having a governance scheme based upon unproven engineering might be worse in the long run.

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