Under the UK government's 2011 Cyber Security Strategy there will be an increased focus on cybercrime as well as renewed focus on cyberspace as a stimulant of economic and social prosperity. With new technologies playing an increasingly prominent role in the UK economy, the Strategy is seen as important to helping to create economic expansion.
Indeed, the government is charged with the task of balancing the conflicting interests of building a more secure environment and attracting business to the UK.
Recognizing the need to experiment with potential solutions, the Strategy calls for the introduction of a three-month pilot scheme among five business sectors - defense, finance, telecommunications, pharmaceuticals and energy - which will exchange "actionable information on cyber threats", "analyze new trends" and work to "strengthen and link up our collective cyber security capabilities".
Allied to this, the government has reaffirmed its commitment to initiatives such as Get Safe Online - which raises awareness of cyber threats - and Cyber Security Challenge UK - which searches for new talent. Both these initiatives have been widely commended, with industry analysts observing that they have been implemented it in a straightforward way.
Furthermore, the strategy - which is accompanied by a report - outlines details of a new primary initiative that will create a "national cyber crime capability as part of the new National Crime Agency by 2013", while by the end of 2011, there are plans for the creation of a "single reporting system for citizens and small businesses to report cyber crime".
"The new strategy is more detailed than the 2009 version, and in many ways reads more like a cyber and economic security strategy," explained Dave Clemente, a research assistant specialising in international security at the Chatham House think tank.
"It continues the process set in motion by the recent Foreign Office-led London Conference on Cyberspace, which emphasised the economic and social benefits of a secure cyberspace and called for development of 'rules of the road'.
"The introduction to the strategy notes that the government will report back in 2012 on progress made toward these objectives."
Although Mr Celemente acknowledged that the Strategy is a promising step, he insisted that the real challenge will be to "prioritise and deliver in a climate of financial austerity".
This comes shortly after Prime Minister David Cameron said that cybercrime costs Great Britain £27 billion ($43 million) a year. Britain, Mr Cameron said, faced "daily attempts on an industrial scale to steal valuable information from individuals and companies".