The Lord’s EU Sub-Committee on Home Affairs has called for written submissions from anyone interested in the subject.

The Committee will be debating issues including whether the military be more involved in protecting the internet, and whether Government operated Computer Emergency Response Teams are an appropriate mechanism for dealing with major internet incidents.

The plan is to bridge gaps in national policies for security and resilience of critical systems, as well as improve incidence response capabilities.

“The issue is of relevance due to cyber-attacks in recent years on Estonia and Georgia and because of international concern about the risk of large scale cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks are growing in sophistication and frequency”, said the House of Lords in a statement.

Last month the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber-Terrorism (IMPACT) issued a rallying call to governments to step up official efforts to combat online attacks. IMPACT Chairman Mohamed Noor Amin urged more governments to establish specialised agencies to counter “alarming” number of cyber threats. “Cyber crime itself has grown into a huge industry and we cannot ignore the increasingly negative effects on society”, said Amin.

The deadline for written evidence submission to the Lord’s EU Committee is Friday 13 November 2009. Email word documents only to collonm@parliament.uk. (more information in this document).