Cyber firm expands at University of Wolverhampton base
A global tech firm has expanded its manufacturing and testing site at the University of Wolverhampton Science Park after doubling its workforce to meet a rise in demand for its products.Goldilock said its anti-hacking work has led to it work with Nato, the Ministry of Defence and other organisations responsible for "critical national infrastructure".The firm said it expected to increase its team to 32 employees by the end of 2025 and create 44 new jobs by 2027."We warmly welcome Goldilock's commitment to growing its pioneering cyber security business in the West Midlands," said Sharon Thompson, deputy mayor of the West Midlands.
The firm said it had chosen to invest in the Wolverhampton site as it was "scaling up" from research and development (R&D) of its Firebreak programme to large-scale manufacturing. Firebreak is designed to ringfence networks away from the internet to make them inaccessible to hackers, the firm said.Stephen Kines, co-founder and chief operating officer of Goldilock said he was thrilled to be expanding."With sophisticated ransomware and AI-powered attacks on a continuous rise, paired with the increasing interconnectedness of systems, Goldilock's technology provides a critical, foundational layer of defence. "The West Midlands offers us an invaluable hub for innovation, providing access to a diverse pool of talented tech professionals and a supportive business environment from which we can continue to grow the business and get our critical product to where it's needed most, as quickly as possible."City of Wolverhampton Council leader, Stephen Simkins, said: "Goldilock's expansion is a testament to the city of Wolverhampton's growing appeal as a destination of choice for ambitious tech firms, with an extensive R&D network, deep pool of specialist talent and proximity to the region's end-to-end manufacturing supply chain."
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Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
How Britain's biggest companies are preparing for a Third World War
The year is 2027 and a major global conflict has erupted. Perhaps China has launched an attempted invasion of Taiwan, or Russian forces have crossed into the territory of an eastern European Nato country. Whatever the case, Justin Crump's job is to advise big companies on how to respond. And with tensions rising, a growing number of chief executives have got him on speed dial. The former Army tank commander, who now runs intelligence and security consultancy Sibylline, says his clients range from a top British supermarket chain to Silicon Valley technology giants. They are all drawing up plans to keep running during wartime, and Crump is surprisingly blunt about their reasoning: a global conflict may be just two years away. 'We're in a world which is more dangerous, more volatile than anything we've seen since the Second World War,' he explains. There are lots of crises that can happen, that are ready to go. 'Chief executives want to test against the war scenario, because they think it's credible. They want to make sure their business can get through that environment.' The year of worst case scenarios He rattles off a series of smouldering international issues – any one of which could ignite the global tinderbox – from Iran's nuclear ambitions, to China's threats to Taiwan, to Vladimir Putin's designs on a Russian sphere of influence in Ukraine and beyond, as well as Donald Trump's disdain for the post-1940s 'rules-based international order'. Against this backdrop, planning for war is not alarmist but sensible, Crump contends. With all these issues building, 2027 is viewed as the moment of maximum danger. 'The worst case scenario is that all these crises all overlap in 2027,' he explains. 'You've got the US midterms, which will have taken place just at the start of that year, and whatever happens there will be lots of upset people. It's also the time when a lot of the economic disruption that's happening now will have really washed through the system, so we'll be feeling the effects of that. And it's also too early for the change in defence posture to have really meant anything in Europe.' Putin and Xi Jinping, the president of China, are acutely aware of all this, he says, and may conclude that they should act before the US and Europe are more fully rearmed in 2030. 'In their minds now, the clock is ticking,' he adds. He also points to major British and Nato military exercises scheduled to take place in 2027, with American forces working to a 2027 readiness target as well. 'There's a reason they're doing it that year – because they think we have to be ready by then,' Crump says. 'So why shouldn't businesses also work off the same thinking and plan for the same thing?' He is not alone in arguing that society needs to start expecting the unexpected. In 2020, the Government established the National Preparedness Commission to ensure the UK was 'significantly better prepared' for the likes of floods, power outages, cyber attacks or wars. It has urged households to keep at least three days' worth of food and water stockpiled, along with other essential items such as a wind-up torch, portable power bank, a portable radio, spare batteries, hand sanitiser and a first aid kit. 'In recent years a series of high-impact events have demonstrated how easily our established way of life can be disrupted by major events,' the commission's website says – pointing to the coronavirus pandemic, recent African coups, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and turmoil in the Middle East. Britain is also secretly preparing for a direct military attack by Russia amid fears that it is not ready for war. Officials have been asked to update 20-year-old contingency plans that would put the country on a war footing after threats of attack by the Kremlin. All of this has led major businesses to conclude that perma crisis is the new normal, Crump says. In the case of Ukraine, Western sanctions on Russia forced companies to choose between continuing to operate heavily-constrained operations in Russia, selling up, or walking away entirely. Crump recalls speaking to several clients including a major energy company in the run-up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He and his colleagues urged the business to evacuate their staff, at a point when it was still received wisdom that Putin wouldn't dare follow through with his threats. 'I had almighty arguments with some people in the run-up, because I was very firmly of the view, based on our data and insights, that the Russians were not only invading, but they were going for the whole country. But other people in our sector were saying, 'No, it's all a bluff'. 'Their team came to me afterwards and said: 'After that call, we were convinced, and we got our people out'. They got a lot of grief for that at the time, from people who were saying it was all nonsense. 'But then on the day of the invasion, they told me they got so many calls actually saying 'thank you for getting us out'.' Yet even in Ukraine, much of which remains an active war zone, life must go on – along with business. 'I've been to plenty of war zones,' says Crump. 'And people are still getting on with their lives, there's still stuff in supermarkets, and things are being made in factories – but that certainly all gets a lot more difficult.' In the case of a major British supermarket, how might executives plan for, say, a Chinese invasion of Taiwan? The first question is how involved the UK expects to be, says Crump. But if Britain, as might be expected, sides with the US at least in diplomatic terms, 'we're not buying anything from China'. That immediately has implications for a company's supply chains – are there any parts of the supply chain that would be crippled without Chinese products? But as the recent cyber attack on Marks & Spencer has demonstrated, attacks on critical digital infrastructure are also a major risk to supermarkets in the event of a war with China or Russia. 'If you look at a retailer, the vulnerability is not necessarily whether or not they can transport stuff to the shop, even in a war zone,' says Crump. 'The problem becomes when you can't operate your systems. 'If you can't take money at the point of sale, or if you have no idea where your stock is because your computer system has been taken down, you've got major problems and you can't operate your business.' Workforce gaps In a scenario where Britain becomes involved in a war itself, Crump says employers may also suddenly find themselves with gaps in their workforces. He believes things would need to get 'very bad indeed' for the Government to impose conscription, which applied to men aged 18-41 during the Second World War. But he points out that the calling up of British armed forces reservists would be very likely, along with the potential mobilisation of what is known as the 'strategic reserve' – those among the country's 1.8 million veterans who are still fit to serve. There are around 32,000 volunteer reservists and an undisclosed number of regular reserves, former regular members of the armed forces who are still liable to be called up. 'There's a big pool of people we don't tap at the moment who are already trained,' explains Crump. 'But there would be consequences if the entire reserve was called forward, which would have to happen if we entered a reasonably sized conflict. It would certainly cause disruptions. 'The medical services are hugely integrated with the NHS, for example, and we saw the effects of them being called forward with Iraq and Afghanistan.' Food supplies The sort of supermarket chaos that erupted during the Covid-19 pandemic would also return with a vengeance if a significant conflict broke out. During that crisis, grocers had to limit how many packs of loo rolls and cans of chopped tomatoes shoppers were allowed to take home, among other items, because of supply chain problems. 'If we're in a conflict, that sort of supply chain activity would increase,' notes Crump. 'So you don't necessarily have rationing imposed, but there might be issues with food production, delivery, payment and getting things to the right place. 'In a world where we don't have our own independent supply chains, we're reliant on a lot of very interconnected moving parts that have been enabled by this period of peace. 'We've never been in a conflict during a time where we've had 'just in time' systems.' Spanish blackouts: A dry run Crump brings up the recent blackouts in Spain and Portugal. British grocers initially thought their food supplies would be completely unaffected because truck loads of tomatoes had already made their way out of the country when the problem struck. But the vehicles were electronically locked, to prevent illegal migrants attempting to clamber inside when they cross the English Channel and could only be unlocked from Spain – where the power cuts had taken down computer systems and telecoms. 'People in Spain couldn't get online, so we had locked trucks full of tomatoes sitting here that we couldn't open because of technology,' Crump says. 'No one had ever thought, 'But what happens if all of Spain goes off the grid?' And I'm sure the answer would have been, 'That'll never happen' anyway.' This tendency towards 'normalcy bias' is what Crump tries to steer his clients away from. While it isn't inevitable that war will break out, or that there will be another pandemic, humans tend to assume that things will revert to whatever the status quo has been in their lifetimes, he says. This can mean we fail to take the threat of unlikely scenarios seriously enough, or use outdated ways of thinking to solve new problems. 'We've had this long period of peace and prosperity. And, of course, business leaders have grown up in that. Military leaders have grown up in it. Politicians have grown up in it. And so it's very hard when that starts to change. 'People have grown up in a world of rules. And I think people are still trying to find ways in which the game is still being played by those old rules.' Unsurprisingly, given his line of work, Crump believes businesses must get more comfortable contemplating the unthinkable. 'Go back a decade and most executives did not want to have a crisis because a crisis is bad for your career, so they didn't want to do a test exercise – because you might fail,' Crump adds. 'But the whole point is that you can fail in an exercise, because it's not real life.'
Metro
16 hours ago
- Metro
Britain to spend £1,500,000,000 on new weapons factories in 'message' to Putin
The UK must be 'prepared' for a real-world attack by Russia, the government said today. An extra £6 billion investment for military capabilities has now been announced, with Defence Secretary John Healey saying the money would also be spent on drones, ships and 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons. Around £1.5 billion of it will go to building at least six new factories to build weapons, producing things like explosives and pyrotechnics. They will operate on an 'always on' basis meaning production can be easily scaled up if needed, the government said. More will be invested in tech to stop tens of thousands of Russian cyberattacks. It comes as Russia and Ukraine continue to bitterly wage war, with some of the worst attacks seen so far, even as peace is constantly claimed to be within reach. Craig Munro breaks down Westminster chaos into easy to follow insight, walking you through what the latest policies mean to you. Sign up here. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Mr Healey said that the UK's new spending was a 'message to Moscow', and was necessary to show that the country would not be an easy target. He said that the change would 'equip our forces for the future' as well as creating 1,800 jobs around the country. He told the BBC's Sunday Morning With Laura Kuenssberg programme that Russia is 'attacking the UK daily', with some 90,000 cyber attacks from state-linked sources detected over the last two years. Asked if he expected a form of real-world attack by Russia on the UK in the coming years, he said: 'We have to be prepared. Nato has to be prepared. We see Putin in Ukraine trying to redraw international boundaries by force … it's part of the growing Russian aggression.' Tomorrow, the Strategic Defence Review – a report into the country's capabilities and weaknesses – will be published, after it was commissioned a year ago, when Labour took power. It will set out how the government intends to counter these threats, including plans to reach 2.5% of GDP spending on defence by 2027, and an 'ambition' to hit 3% in the next parliament, after pressure from US president Donald Trump that Nato members should be spending at least 5%. A cyber command to counter online threats is also being set up as part of the review. And more than £1.5 billion in extra funding will go to urgent repairs to military homes, such as fixing boilers and roofs, and tackling damp. This isn't part of the plans currently. In fact, the Army is shrinking, because more people are leaving than joining. 'The first job is to reverse that trend and then I want to see in the next parliament our ability to start to increase the number,' Mr Healey said. In January this year, there were 71,151 regular soldiers in the British Army. It comes after the Conservative government introduced the 'Future Soldier' change in 2021, aimed at reducing the size of the force to 73,000 to cut costs and better respond to modern warfare. But Mr Healey said there were now even less than that, but he doesn't expect progress towards raising the number until the next parliament. Writing in the Mirror, Defence minister Alistair Cairns said there were plans to increase cadet numbers by 30%, with new opportunities for young people to join the armed forces. Tory politicians welcomed the plans, but said more was needed sooner. Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said he was 'sceptical' as to whether all the money would end up being spent, and told Sky News: 'We think that 2034 is a long time to wait given the gravity of the situation'. On the other hand, some are unhappy with what it shows about government priorities. In February, the Green Party wrote an open letter to Mr Healey saying there should be an 'increase in spending on diplomacy, peace-building and overseas aid in order to improve our security', not just on building bombs. Ellie Chowns MP said it was 'horrifying' that cuts to the international aid budget would help increase defence spending, saying: 'How many people will fall ill or die because they cannot access health services; how many more will go hungry? And how many children will be denied an education as a result of this decision? 'Cutting aid risks making the world more volatile and more dangerous, not safer. Real security means tackling hunger, poverty, and climate chaos.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Seven dead in train crash after 'explosions' destroy bridges on Ukraine border MORE: Schoolgirl, 13, killed after javelin went through her eye in PE lesson pictured MORE: At least 13 newborns trafficked abroad to 'infertile' parents for £510,000
Leader Live
16 hours ago
- Leader Live
Defence review is ‘message to Moscow'
The Government has pledged £1.5 billion to set up at least six factories, and will support the procurement of up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons in response to the strategic defence review (SDR) to be published on Monday. The new funding will see UK munitions spend hit £6 billion during this parliament and support around 1,800 jobs throughout the country. Sir Keir Starmer has called the review a 'radical blueprint' and pledged a 'wave of investments' in shipbuilding, drone technology and cyber defences. Defence Secretary John Healey said the £6 billion of investment would 'equip our forces for the future' and 'create the jobs in every part of the UK'. 'This is a message to Moscow as well. This is Britain standing behind, making our armed forces stronger but making our industrial base stronger, and this is part of our readiness to fight, if required,' he told the BBC's Sunday Morning With Laura Kuenssberg programme. He said Russia is 'attacking the UK daily' as part of some 90,000 cyber attacks from state-linked sources were directed at the UK's defence over the last two years. A cyber command to counter such threats is being set up as part of the review. Asked if he expected a form of real-world attack by Russia on the UK in the coming years, he said: 'We have to be prepared. Nato has to be prepared. We see Putin in Ukraine trying to redraw international boundaries by force … it's part of the growing Russian aggression.' He added that is why Nato and the UK are 'stepping up our ability to deter as well as to defend in the future'. 'The world is more uncertain. The tensions are greater but we prepare for war in order to secure the peace. If you're strong enough to defeat an enemy you deter them from attacking in the first place,' Mr Healey said. He said plans to reach 2.5% of GDP spending on defence by 2027 and an 'ambition' to hit 3% in the next parliament were 'enough to deliver the SDR's vision that sets out tomorrow, and that vision is a transformation of Britain's armed forces.' He said there was 'no doubt' the Government would reach 3% in the next parliament. But he said he does not expect to make progress towards raising the number of soldiers to 73,000 until the next parliament. 'We've narrowed the gap, but we've still got more people leaving than joining. 'The first job is to reverse that trend and then I want to see in the next parliament our ability to start to increase the number,' he said. Defence minister Alistair Cairns, writing in The Mirror, said there were plans to increase cadet numbers by 30% with new opportunities for young people to get into the armed forces. And more than £1.5 billion in extra funding will go to military homes for urgent repairs such as fixing boilers and roofs, and other issues including tackling damp. Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick welcomed the Government's pledge to increase defence spending but said he was 'sceptical' as to whether the Chancellor would make good on the plans. Mr Jenrick said the UK should reach 3% of GDP spending on defence 'within this parliament'. 'We think that 2034 is a long time to wait given the gravity of the situation,' he told the Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme on Sky News.
