Read: The letter sent to British CEOs about a rise in attacks
Hostile cyber activity in the UK is growing more intense, frequent, and sophisticated. This is causing significant financial and social harm to UK businesses and citizens.
In a letter issued to businesses on Monday (13 October), the government warned that there is now a direct and active threat to economic and national security that requires an urgent collective response.
“The government is taking significant action to counter the cyber threat and has developed tools to help businesses to defend themselves, but we cannot do this alone,” the letter reads.
“We ask you and the CEOs and chairs of other leading UK companies to take the necessary steps to protect your business and our wider economy from cyber attacks. Cyber resilience is a critical enabler of economic growth, so getting this right will promote growth and foster a stable environment for investment and innovation.”
Recent high-profile cyber incidents show how attacks can seriously disrupt operations and damage profitability. In this increasingly hostile landscape, organisations recover better from incidents when they have planned for the worst and rehearsed their business continuity and recovery, the government said.
Against this backdrop, the government asked businesses to:
- Make cyber risk a board-level priority using the Cyber Governance Code of Practice.
- Sign up for the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Early Warning service.
- Require Cyber Essentials in their supply chain.
“Strengthening our nation’s cyber resilience requires close collaboration between government and industry. Our forthcoming Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will increase protections for essential and digital services.
“Whether or not your business is in scope, the NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) can also be used to improve cyber resilience for your most critical services. The three actions described above remain essential and can help achieve outcomes in the framework. The three actions are based on learnings from previous attacks.”
