Wary of cyber security laws, UK eyes softly-softly approach

Britain has made tackling the theft of intellectual property on the Internet and the protection of critical infrastructure from hostile cyber assault top national security issues, setting aside 650 million pounds ($1 billion) over four years to address the problems.

More than nine in 10 British companies have suffered a cyber breach in the past year and intellectual property is being stolen on an "industrial scale", government officials said in a briefing ahead of a government update on Monday on its year-old cyber security strategy.

But despite the fact that more and more trade secrets are being purloined via the Internet, officials said they favoured a softly-softly approach.

That would involve professional auditing and governance bodies and shareholders and analysts pressuring company directors to explain what they were doing to thwart cyber threats, they said.

"The government does want to see more disclosures. But we don't think the right way of approaching that is to pass laws to force people to do it in those areas where they are not already obliged," one official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of security issues.

"Rather than forcing companies to disclose it, we think it is best to encourage analysts, investors, shareholders, insurers, to ask for that information," he said.

"A PERVERSE INCENTIVE"

Unlike their U.S. peers, British companies aren't required

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