The National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) and Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) have ramped up their focus on the UK’s digital resiliency to better protect against the rising tide of cyber-attacks.
A top priority for the organizations is to improve the UK’s response to cyber incidents, with the ICO incentivizing impacted businesses to engage with the NCSC to encourage transparency and recovery against threats.
NCSC and ICO’s resiliency roadmap
The NCSC and ICO’s resiliency roadmap was outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding that sets out the joint development of cyber security standards and guidance, while deconflicting areas that previously held the reporting and response system back.
Achi Lewis, Area VP EMEA for Absolute Software, commented: “Resiliency must be the UK’s top priority when it comes to digital infrastructure, with a shift from just detection and prevention measures to adding in protection and recovery protocols. It’s encouraging to see greater collaboration between the NCSC and the ICO to emphasize the vital importance of digital resiliency but, as we’ve seen with numerous high-profile attacks that have led to fatal downtime, there’s still a lot more to be done.”
UK’s online safety
Industry regulators must work with organizations to assure that resiliency is business priority
Achi Lewis added: “Industry regulators must work with organizations to ensure that resiliency is a top business priority as cyber-attacks are no longer a case of if, they are a case of when. Without a resilient cyber posture that affords IT teams with visibility across their entire network and includes self-healing technology to repair and restore devices and applications, businesses are leaving themselves vulnerable to a host of threats.”
Among the focuses, the ICO will share previously unshared information about cyber incidents, on an anonymized and aggregate basis if it is of “national significance”, to provide the NCSC with greater visibility of the cyber landscape in order to improve the UK’s online safety.
UK’s digital security
NCSC CEO, Lindy Cameron, said: “This new MoU with the Information Commissioner builds on our existing relationship and will boost the UK’s digital security. It provides us with a platform and mechanism to improve cyber security standards across the board.”
Information Commissioner, John Edwards, said: “We already work closely with the NCSC to offer the right tools, advice and support to businesses and organizations on how to improve their cyber security and stay secure. This Memorandum of Understanding reaffirms our commitment to improve the UK’s cyber resilience so people’s information is kept safe online from cyber-attacks.” The pair will also collaborate to bolster cyber security guidance for businesses and lead the charge in promoting its adoption.