There are just three weeks left to submit your views on government plans to strengthen the security and resilience of the UK’s data infrastructure.

Views are sought on tools currently used in other regulated sectors, such as having an incident management plan in place, notifying a regulator when an incident impacts their services, and a requirement for a person board or committee to be held accountable for security and resilience.

The government says new protections would build on existing safeguards for data infrastructure, including the Networks and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations 2018, which cover cloud computing services. The National Cyber Security Centre and Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure also regularly update guidance for datacentres and their online assets.

Data minister Julia Lopez said: “Datacentres and cloud platforms are a core part of our national infrastructure. They power the technology which makes our everyday lives easier and delivers essential services like banking and energy.

“We legislated to better protect our telecoms networks and the internet-connected devices in our homes from cyber attacks and we are now looking at new ways to boost the security of our data infrastructure to prevent sensitive data ending up in the wrong hands.”

This project is part of the government’s National Data Strategy to ensure the security and resilience of the infrastructure on which data relies. Research from the Office for National Statistics suggests that from 2013 to 2019 the number of businesses purchasing cloud computing services to store their data more than doubled, with 53% of businesses relying on cloud platforms.

Julian David, CEO, techUK added: “The UK’s data infrastructure – through cloud platforms and datacentres – underpins the digital technologies and services upon which all citizens and organisations increasingly rely.

“The technology sector already plays an important role in strengthening resilience across the UK economy and techUK welcomes the opportunity to engage with government on these significant issues. One particular focus will be how these proposals will align with wider efforts to strengthen resilience across sectors as well as the wider ambitions outlined in the UK’s National Cyber Strategy - which is a continuation of UK Government’s longstanding leadership in cyber security.”

The call for views will run until 23:59 on Sunday 24th July 2022. Contributions from datacentre operators, cloud platform providers, datacentre customers, security and equipment suppliers and cyber security experts are welcomed.

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