Data centres on ‘equal footing’ as emergency services, government says

Data centres across the UK are to be classed as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), in a bid to make them more resilient to outages, cyber attacks and adverse weather events, the UK Government has announced.

The new designation means data centres will be on the same footing as water, energy and emergency services, meaning they will receive greater government support to anticipate and recover from serious incidents.

A team of senior government officials will now be set up to monitor threats against data centres, as well as to co-ordinate access to emergency services in the event of an incident.

It is also hoped that the new CNI designation – the first to happen in almost a decade – will boost business confidence and generate economic growth.

Currently, there are around 500 data centres in the UK and the industry generates more than £4.5bn per year.

Announcing the decision, technology secretary Peter Kyle said data centres, which hold sensitive information including medical records, are “the engines of modern life”.

He continued: “Bringing data centres into the Critical National Infrastructure regime will allow better co-ordination and co-operation with the government against cyber criminals and unexpected events.”

The designation will be given to both physical data centres and the cloud operators that use them to supply services like Apple’s iCloud.

Matthew Evans, chief operating officer at techUK, added: “Data centres are fundamental to our digitising economy and are a key driver of growth. We look forward to collaborating closely with the government and our stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of these new measures and their impact on the sector. Continued engagement and partnership will be key in advancing our shared objectives of a secure, resilient, and thriving digital economy.”

Currently, there are 13 national infrastructure sectors classed as CNI, with space being the last to be added to the list in 2015.

The announcement comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled that Amazon Web Services will invest £8bn in building and managing data centres in Britain over the next five years.

Data centres across the UK are to be classed as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), in a bid to make them more resilient to outages, cyber attacks and adverse weather events, the UK Government has announced.

The new designation means data centres will be on the same footing as water, energy and emergency services, meaning they will receive greater government support to anticipate and recover from serious incidents.

A team of senior government officials will now be set up to monitor threats against data centres, as well as to co-ordinate access to emergency services in the event of an incident.

It is also hoped that the new CNI designation – the first to happen in almost a decade – will boost business confidence and generate economic growth.

Currently, there are around 500 data centres in the UK and the industry generates more than £4.5bn per year.

Announcing the decision, technology secretary Peter Kyle said data centres, which hold sensitive information including medical records, are “the engines of modern life”.

He continued: “Bringing data centres into the Critical National Infrastructure regime will allow better co-ordination and co-operation with the government against cyber criminals and unexpected events.”

The designation will be given to both physical data centres and the cloud operators that use them to supply services like Apple’s iCloud.

Matthew Evans, chief operating officer at techUK, added: “Data centres are fundamental to our digitising economy and are a key driver of growth. We look forward to collaborating closely with the government and our stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of these new measures and their impact on the sector. Continued engagement and partnership will be key in advancing our shared objectives of a secure, resilient, and thriving digital economy.”

Currently, there are 13 national infrastructure sectors classed as CNI, with space being the last to be added to the list in 2015.

The announcement comes after Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled that Amazon Web Services will invest £8bn in building and managing data centres in Britain over the next five years.