UK Touts Its Cybersecurity Cred

Last year, British defense consultants NDI UK Ltd. received a call from a government agency with ominous news: NDI's computers had been targeted by hackers in China. Cybersleuths from the government's Center for the Protection of National Infrastructure quickly descended on the company to inspect and clean its systems.
NDI's experience is increasingly common as businesses and governments around the world face a surge in computer-network intrusions. Less common, say computer-security specialists, is the British government's reaction and its effort to put cybercrime on the business agenda.
The U.K. aims to make a new boast about its business competitiveness.
As Britain this week prepares to host the first global conference on cyberspace—to be attended by officials from 60 countries—it is preparing to market itself as a center of cyberprotection for the private sector.
Most governments, including the U.S., have focused their response to cyberthreats on the military and national infrastructure. But Britain also is focusing on ordinary business, hoping to tout Internet security as a competitive advantage, the way many countries flaunt their tax regimes and pro-business regulations.
"We are saying it is not just about government, it's about all of the market, it's about all of the economy," Francis Maude, the U.K. minister in charge of cybersecurity, says in an interview.

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