Back in June of this year, the United Kingdom's terrorism minister announced the British government's intention of recruiting former computer hackers and the like to join its new cyber security armada, with the objective of securing and defending the worldwide web against virtual terrorists, online outlaws, digital thieves, and foreign spies.

Alan West, the UK's Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the State, stated that IT-savvy people are needed to join the efforts to find the source—and prevent the spread of—cyber terrorism on Britain's computer-using constituents, businesses, and government. The country will also expand and promulgate its ability to wage actual cyber war against its foes and all other ne'er-do-wells of the information superhighway.

At any rate, according to the UK government, its brand new cyber warfare corps will be ready for action by next year, on March 10. Baroness Crawley further reveals that the Cheltenham-based, GCHQ-housed CSOC (Cyber Security Operations Centre) will have about an initial workforce of nineteen cyber security experts. The CSOC will specifically monitor the Internet for any threats on the UK's digital infrastructure, and it will even counterattack anyone foolhardy enough to assault these British network installations if so required by the situation.

The staffing numbers, which was published in response to a Parliamentary inquiry, confirms the recent hyperbolic allegations that intelligence agencies were actually hiring a fifty-strong militia of teenaged online hackers. To be more precise, the imminent launching of CSOC was revealed way back in June with the intention of making the unit an operational focal point of Britain's first cyber security approach. Funding for the CSOC hasn't been disclosed as of yet, but it will probably come from the GCHQ's own pockets, which fortunately houses hundreds of millions of pounds' worth of money.

Furthermore, the Office of Cyber Security is also presently being prepped up as well. It's another unit in the Cabinet Office that was founded to manage and synchronize security policies, and it's to be run by senior civil servant Neil Thompson. Crawley claims that the Office of Cyber Security will house eighteen people and have a budget of over one hundred thirty thousand pounds for the remaining months of the financial year.