Secret HQ set up to fight cyber crime

Agents and analysts from MI5 and GCHQ will work side-by-side with private sector counterparts in a new government "fusion cell".

Under the Cyber Security Information Sharing Partnership (CISP), private firms will be given access to a secure web portal, described as a "Facebook for cyber security threats".

It will operate on social network lines, in which more than a dozen analysts, based at a secret location in London, can choose who they share information with.

The partnership will provide industry figures with a specialist forum to scrutinise online attack techniques, the methods used by cyber terrorists and how authorities can counter them.

Security officials said last night that while industry representatives will not have direct access to classified intelligence material, they will have to undergo high-level vetting.

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