AKIPRESS.COM - The UK's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UK), which will co-ordinate the country's cybersecurity defence, has been formally launched.

The body will deal with "cybersecurity incidents" of national significance.

It will also provide advice and alerts on cyber-threats to government, industry and academia.

Speaking at the launch, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude said that 93% of large corporations had had "a breach" over the past financial year.

The attacks cost on average between £450,000 and £850,000, he added.

The minister also repeated the claim that one London-based company had suffered a security breach which cost it "£800m worth of revenue".

But, he said, cybersecurity also presented an opportunity. It was "an essential feature of - and a massive opportunity for - the UK's economic recovery".

Many countries around the world now have their own CERT, a crucial component in the sharing of information to prevent cyber-attacks, BBC reported Monday.