Big changes coming to how UK businesses defend against hackers
Key Points
- The National Cyber Action Plan will extend UK cyber policy to private businesses.
- Security Minister Dan Jarvis announced NCAP at the International Security Expo.
- The existing Cyber Action Plan carries more than £210 million in funding.
- The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill will bring data centres and IT providers into scope.
- A new Online Crime Centre links police, banks and tech firms against fraud.
Security Minister Dan Jarvis said the UK’s next national cyber plan will cover private businesses.
Jarvis made the announcement during a speech at the International Security Expo at Olympia in London on Wednesday (30 September).
The National Cyber Action Plan, known as NCAP, will follow the government’s existing Cyber Action Plan and extend it to industry and the private sector.
“This will soon be followed by NCAP – the National Cyber Action Plan – bringing industry and the private sector within scope,” said Jarvis.
The government published the Cyber Action Plan earlier this year with more than £210 million in funding. That plan focuses on strengthening public services and improving the state’s response to cyber incidents, including ransomware attacks.
New cyber law on the way
NCAP will run alongside the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament.
“Alongside this, the CSRB, the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, will deliver the most significant update to the UK’s cyber regulatory framework for years,” said Jarvis.
The bill updates the Network and Information Systems Regulations, which set security rules for operators of essential services such as energy, transport and water. It also brings managed IT service providers and data centres under the regulations for the first time.
Jarvis also pointed to the government’s new Online Crime Centre, which brings together law enforcement, intelligence agencies, banks, telecoms providers and technology companies to identify and dismantle fraud networks.
The centre launched after the government published its 2026 to 2029 Fraud Strategy in March, which commits over £250 million to tackling fraud.
Jarvis listed cyber security, AI, secure communications and counter-drone technology among the capabilities the government now treats as strategic for the UK.
