Government Cybersecurity Spending May Include More Pen Testing

“We are considering the contribution this type of testing could make to cyber security assurance within further CNI sectors”

The government has defended its decision not to provide an itemised breakdown of how it is spending £1.9 billion under a National Cyber Security Programme.

It also said it is considering penetration testing schemes for critical national infrastructure, saying proposals to expand trials “have promise”.

The comments came in a response today to a Joint Committee for the National Security Strategy (JCNSS) report that was published in November 2018.

See also: Parliament Tears Into National Cyber Security Programme, Calls for Audit

In that report the JCNSS – which includes the chairmen of eight Select Committees from Defence to Foreign Affairs, Justice, Security and Intelligence – criticised the government’s National Cyber Security Programme for spending opacity and a lack of clarity over what constitutes “critical” in Critical National Infrastructure (CNI).

Pushing back, the government responded today: “A breakdown of how the £1.9…