Government needs to do more to safeguard critical national infrastructure

The Tories have joined the private sector in calling the government's much-delayed National Security Strategy a disappointment in tackling the cyber threat to the UK's critical national infrastructure.

The strategy recognised the 'risk of disruption to their integrity and availability through cyber-attack, whether terrorist, criminal, or state-led.'

But it was short on policy, said David Davis, shadow home secretary.

"The government does not regard the threat of cyber attack as a strategic security challenge," he said. "But just one of several global trends - a second-order driver of insecurity."

The strategy, published at the end of last month, was aimed at outlining how the UK could deal with changing terrorist threats in the 21st century.

Last month the Tories published a green paper on cyber crime recommending a number of measures including:

-Ratifying the international cyber crime convention.

-Fixing the gap left by rolling the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit into the Serious Organised Crime Agency with another agency.

-Introducing a data breach notification law.

-Encouraging more internet security training in colleges.

-Giving a specific minister the brief of co-ordinating cyber crime policy across government.