Britain puts a new offensive cyber force at the heart of its d | The Economist Finances

Britain puts a new offensive cyber force at the heart of its defence
The National Cyber Force of soldiers and spies has been quietly hacking away, but it must tread carefully

THE HEAD of America’s Cyber Command, Paul Nakasone, is a four-star general whose chest is plastered in medals. The commander of Britain’s National Cyber Force (NCF) is a bespectacled, middle-aged man in a beige blazer—a 20-year veteran of GCHQ, Britain’s signals-intelligence service, whose name the government has asked to keep secret. Unassuming as he may be, his agency, responsible for offensive cyber operations, now stands at the centre of a sweeping overhaul of British defence capabilities.