On 30th June 2022, British TV broadcaster Channel 4 released a brand new series called "The Undeclared War"
The trailer takes the form of a press conference involving the Prime Minister Andrew Makinde (played by Adrian Lester) and the Head of Operations for GCHQ Daniel Patrick (played by Simon Pegg), where they outline a major cyber attack to the whole of society. The character Patrick states that such an attack could hit "basic energy supplies, water reserves, transport systems, and, in particular, our communications"
Team Awen have all been tasked to watch the series over the coming weeks, as this appears to be a pivotal fictitious TV programme within our sector of critical national infrastructure cyber security.
One thing for sure is that the first episode highlights that cyber security is increasingly a home to a diverse range of people, particularly neurodiverse people. The ability to think in many different ways, from many different perspectives, is the way to tackle the rising threat of cyber attack.
Another element to the series is the pressure between the political side of government, and the civil servants doing the work to respond. There has, and most likely always will be, tension between those in Cabinet and those doing the action. In some cases, this is not a bad thing, in other cases political will goes against what might be correct.
It appears to be a very well informed series, with the correct procedures and technologies used within digital forensics and incident response. It is our hope that the series raises awareness amongst the population of the rising cyber threat, as well as inspires people to take up a career in cyber security. Does a series like this need to be exactly correct? No, we don’t feel like it does - as long as it’s relatively plausible, entertaining, and puts cyber security in a good light, then it can only be a good thing for the cyber security industry.
Those interested in watching the series can do so via The Undeclared War on the Channel 4 All4 streaming service (might not be available in some territories).
