UK to help vulnerable countries ramp up cyber defences against Russia, China

Britain said on Wednesday it would invest 22 million pounds ($31 million) to help vulnerable countries in Africa and the Indo-Pacific build up their cyber defences to prevent China, Russia and others from filling a cyberspace vacuum.

British foreign minister Dominic Raab said Britain and its partners needed to take action to ensure there was a cyberspace that was free, open and peaceful in the face of hostile states seeking to undermine democratic elections and turn the internet into a lawless space.

“We’ve got to win the hearts and minds across the world in a much broader space for our positive vision of a cyberspace … there for the benefit of the whole world,” Raab said at an online security conference.