Wednesday 15 February 2017
The President of the Committee for Home Affairs, Deputy Mary Lowe, gave the following statement today providing an update on cyber security.
In 2015 the States of Guernsey commissioned an in-depth consultation and report into the cyber security threats facing Government, Business and Islanders and what mitigations and capabilities are required to ensure we can all be safe on-line. Over the last 18 months the
Committee for Home Affairs, with colleagues from the Policy and Resources Committee, have been working with the National Cyber Security Centre and the States of Jersey to ensure that Guernsey, and the Chanel islands, can meet the challenges of the growing cyber security threat. Yesterday HM the Queen formally opened the National Cyber Security Centre and today the States of Jersey publish their consultation into Cyber Security. It is therefore timely to provide an update on the measures Guernsey is taking in this area.
Following extensive work last week Senior Officers, including members of Law Enforcement, hosted in Guernsey a senior team from the National Cyber Security Centre for two days to agree the outline principles of collaboration between Guernsey, the National Cyber Security Centre and Jersey. These principles focus on information sharing, access to specialist UK national capabilities, and joint development of additional local capability tailored to the specific needs of the Islands. I am pleased to announce that the National Cyber Security Centre has now formally extended their 'Cyber Information Sharing Partnership' (CiSP) to the Crown Dependencies and that the States of Guernsey can now act as an approved referring body to add businesses to the CiSP framework. CiSP is a joint industry and UK government initiative set up to exchange cyber threat information in real time, in a secure, confidential and dynamic environment, increasing situational awareness and reducing the impact on business. Further, and following last week's meeting, the National Cyber Security Centre will be developing a Channel Islands specific CiSP forum to provide a focus for information sharing on cyber threats across Guernsey and Jersey.
I therefore welcome Senator Ian Gorst's commitment to joint working with Guernsey. Guernsey's Chief Information Officer, the Chief Secretary, Committee for Home Affairs and the Head of Law Enforcement will be working with colleagues in the National Cyber Security Centre and Jersey in drafting the principles of the Memorandum of Understanding. The Committee for Home Affairs looks forward to reviewing and authorising the Memorandum of Understanding in due course.
