Image source: Richard Townshend CC BY 3.0
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has issued a call for views on the resilience and security of software used by organisations.
Minister for Media, Data and Digital Infrastructure Julia Lopez MP highlighted the publication of the document in a statement to Parliament, saying it sets out the Government’s existing assessment of the cyber security risks from software and wants responses from industry, academia and other organisations over the next 12 weeks.
The document breaks the issue down into sections on software risks, existing industry measures and future action, with a series of questions on how it is all affecting organisations.
It states that there are diverse risks linked to software in digital supply chains and that it will not be possible to pursue all the possible policy options, but DCMS will prioritise those having the biggest impact within the resources available.
It plans to publish its formal response during the summer, then work on ensuring the policy options are aligned with other priorities including the UK Digital Strategy and proposed changes to the Network and Information Systems regulations.
“Strengthening the resilience of software is an important part of strengthening organisational cyber resilience more widely,” Lopez said. “This will help reduce the cyber threat to the economy and prevent harm to businesses, UK citizens and the UK’s worldwide customers.”
