Ex-diplomat to be next cyber security CEO
A former conflict diplomat who became the first woman to complete the same selective military course taken by the head of the armed forces will lead the UK's fight against cyber hackers.
From October Lindy Cameron, the outgoing director-general of the Northern Ireland Office, will succeed Ciaran Martin as the new Chief Executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).
Ms Cameron, who as a civilian in 2009 completed Shrivenham Defence Academy’s prestigious Higher Command and Staff Course, a “pivotal course” whose alumni include General Sir Nick Carter, the Chief of Defence Staff, said she “relished the opportunity” to take the NCSC “to the next level”.
Ms Cameron, who has worked as director-general at the Department for International Development (DfID), responsible for programmes in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, which included work in Iraq and Afghanistan, added that the department, which is part of GCHQ and was established in 2016, had over the past four years, “transformed the UK’s approach to cyber security and set a benchmark for other countries to follow”.
Ms Cameron, who was born in Northern Ireland, initially began her career in the private sector with McKinsey, the consultancy firm. Earlier this year she was appointed CB in the 2020 New Year’s Honours List for her services to international development.
Tobias Ellwood, chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said Ms Cameron, who he first met in Helmand Province, where she worked as the director of the Helmand Provincial Reconstruction Team from 2009 to 2010. He described her as a “formidable character who speaks her mind and has a passion and energy in everything she does”.
“As the person responsible for the post conflict stabilisation programmes she was not scared of speaking her mind and going into danger zones in order to complete the task.”
Mr Ellwood added that she was “an astute operator able to make her mark but without rattling cages”.
A personal friend told The Daily Telegraph that due to the multitude of roles she has held in her career she was “part of the national security tribe” who “understands the bigger picture”.
“She is respected, has put the hard yards in and comes at things from a national security side.”
As the UK's lead authority on cyber security, the NCSC oversees the response to cyber attacks and improving the cyber resilience of the UK's national infrastructure.
Ms Cameron joins the NCSC as the UK faces progressively more sophisticated cyber attacks from hackers linked to the governments of China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. Earlier this month the NCSC announced it had found evidence that a hacking group linked to the Russian government had been attempting to steal coronavirus vaccine research from organisations in the UK. Jeremy Fleming, the director of GCHQ, said Ms Cameron was joining the team “at a time when cyber security has never been more essential to the nation's resilience and prosperity”. "Lindy's unique blend of experience in government, overseas and in security and policy issues make her the ideal leader to take NCSC into the next stage of its delivery,” he said.
