Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, by what process the Government quantifies the severity of cyber-attacks; and what criteria the Government employs to determine its response to such attacks.

CERT-UK, the UK’s national Computer Emergency Response Team assesses the severity of cyber attacks against the UK and coordinates the UK’s response to such incidents working with HM Government, Law Enforcement, private industry and overseas partners as the need arises. The UK’s approach to the management of cyber incidents is in line with the wider UK management of national emergencies of any cause and is drawn from the Central Government Arrangements for Responding to an Emergency: Concept of Operations (CONOPS) available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-central-governments-s-concept-of-operations.

The assessment of and response to incidents is considered on a case by case basis in line with the principles in the CONOPS and will depend on the actual or potential impact that might be caused.