47 Section 6 DETER 6.0.1. The National Security Strategy states that defence and protection start with deterrence. This is as true in cyberspace as any other sphere. To realise our vision of a nation that is secure and resilient to cyber threats, and prosperous and confident in the digital world, we have to dissuade and deter those who would harm us and our interests. To achieve this we all need to continue to raise levels of cyber security so that attacking us in cyberspace – whether to steal from us or harm us – is neither cheap nor easy. Our adversaries must know that they cannot act with impunity: that we can and will identify them, and that we can act against them, using the most appropriate response from amongst all the tools at our disposal. We will continue to build global alliances and promote the application of international law in cyberspace. We will also more actively disrupt the activity of all those who threaten us in cyberspace and the infrastructure on which they rely. Delivering this ambition requires world-class sovereign capabilities. 6.1. CYBER’S ROLE IN DETERRENCE 6.1.1. Cyberspace is only one sphere in which we must defend our interests and sovereignty. Just as our actions in the physical sphere are relevant to our cyber security and deterrence, so our actions and posture in cyberspace must contribute to our wider national security. 6.1.2. The principles of deterrence are as applicable in cyberspace as they are in the physical sphere. The UK makes clear that the full spectrum of our capabilities will be used to deter adversaries and to deny them opportunities to attack us. However, we recognise that cyber security and resilience are in themselves a means of deterring attacks that rely on the exploitation of vulnerabilities. 6.1.3. We will pursue a comprehensive national approach to cyber security and deterrence that will make the UK a harder target, reducing the benefits and raising the costs to an adversary – be they political, diplomatic, economic or strategic. We must ensure our capability and intent to respond are understood by potential adversaries in order to influence their decision-making. We shall have the tools and capabilities we need: to deny our adversaries easy opportunities to compromise our networks and systems; to understand their intent and capabilities; to defeat commodity malware threats at scale; and to respond and protect the nation in cyberspace. 6.2. REDUCING CYBER CRIME 6.2.1. We need to raise the cost, raise the risk, and reduce the reward of cyber criminals’ activity. While we must harden the UK against cyber attacks and reduce vulnerabilities, we must also focus relentlessly on pursuing criminals who continue to target the UK. 6.2.2. Law enforcement agencies will focus their efforts on pursuing the criminals who persist in attacking UK citizens and businesses. We will work with domestic and international partners to target criminals wherever they are located, and to dismantle their infrastructure and facilitation networks. Law enforcement agencies will also continue to help raise awareness and standards of cyber security, in collaboration with the NCSC. National Cyber Security Strategy 2016