These skills should be harnessed before they do harm

News reports of the cyber attack on the website of the telecom firm TalkTalk, with millions of British customers, and the subsequent arrest of some teenagers including one from Norwich prompt in us several reactions. 

This comes hot on the heels of a seemingly similar attack on Carphone Warehouse in August and Vodafone’s fears that 2,000 customers were ‘open to fraud’ after hackers accessed their details.  So, first of all, we are angered by the distress and damage these attacks cause to so many people.  The daily security online of our citizens and our country is hugely important and computer misuse is a crime for a good reason.  In fact, Parliament has recently updated the original Computer Misuse Act for modern technology and to ensure sentences for attacks on computer systems fully reflect the damage they cause.  Used to ill ends, cyberspace can now be a domain of criminal damage, terrorism or even warfare alongside land, sea, air and space.

However, we are also intrigued that the person arrested in Norwich is only 16, and others arrested in London and Northern Ireland in relation to the TalkTalk attack are also teenagers.

If guilty, these are clearly talented young people, who used their skills to do wrong.  We don’t glorify a criminal act, but it is obvious that the perpetrators had the knowledge and aptitude to outwit a major company.  Indeed, they probably saw it as a challenge.  Wouldn’t it be better to put those skills to good use rather than see them cause significant social and economic disruption?

Just this summer Norwich was identified as a growing ‘Tech City’, acknowledging digital employment of over 14,000 and a growing start-up scene.  Companies such as Liftshare, Servicetick and Rainbird are blazing the trail and there is a great support network in the area through SyncNorwich, Norfolk Developers and Hot Source.  Whitespace, a co-working space, is boosting entrepreneurs and our two universities are helping create a hugely talented young workforce, with a new digital incubation centre just opened at NUA.

Figures for 2014 from the DCMS Creative Nation report show that these digital and creative industries contributed £77billion to the UK economy last year and are the fastest growing part of the economy at present.  We can support our young people by continuing down the path of a growing economy and by further developing Norwich’s talent base with business support, skills academies, top quality broadband, higher apprenticeships and more.

So we don’t celebrate a teenager hacking a company, at all.  Let’s persuade such a person to contribute to our economy instead.  Norwich needs talented people to start up a business and apply their gifts to our city’s social and economic good. 

Chloe Smith MP, Norwich North & Professor John John Last, Vice Chancellor, NUA