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“Safeguarding a nation’s critical services from evolving cyber threats is as crucial as fighting against terrorism and we should all contribute to the effort of keeping our country safe. Just like terrorists, the hackers are also changing their weapons, making it crucial for governments to prioritise and ensure the continuous improvement of their cyber capabilities.

“Governments and businesses must expect to be unable to defend against such an attack – and whilst it is essential to have cyber defences in place, cyber policies shouldn’t stop there. There should also be an incident response plan in place for if a threat makes it past initial defences, and this should be rehearsed so individuals can act quickly to contain a threat.

“From our own research earlier this year, we found that when it comes to DDoS attacks, among the top motivations for hackers were – ideological hacktivism and demonstrating attack capabilities. Unless there is a massive cultural shift in the UK, these motivations are unlikely to change. As such, fostering collaboration between researchers, government and business provides the best long-term defence against attacks. The announced GCHQ cyber threat protection funding is another step forward to a safer nation that will hopefully make cyber-crimes less of a profitable avenue of growth for criminals.”