The new British government has taken a proactive step towards enhancing the nation’s cyber-resilience with the introduction of a new bill highlighted in the King’s Speech on July 17.
The Cyber Security and Resilience Bill aims to bolster defenses and protect essential digital services by building on the NIS Regulations 2018, a result of an EU directive. The bill will focus on critical infrastructure providers and extend the scope of the current NIS regime to safeguard more digital services and supply chains.
One key aspect of the bill is the introduction of mandatory ransomware reporting to help authorities better understand the scale of the threat and detect potential attacks. The legislation will also grant new powers to regulators and expand the scope of existing regulations.
The government’s decision to bring forward this new bill follows recent high-profile cyber-attacks affecting organizations like the NHS and the Ministry of Defence. It also comes in the wake of public warnings from the UK National Cyber Security Centre regarding the cyber capabilities of countries like China and Russia.
The bill has been welcomed by industry experts, who see it as a crucial step towards achieving cyber-resilience and boosting economic growth. Martin Greenfield, CEO of Quod Orbis, believes that proactive cybersecurity strategies are essential for businesses to achieve sustained economic growth.
In addition to the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, a separate Digital Information and Smart Data Bill will incorporate legislative measures from the Data Protection and Digital Information Bill. This proposed update to the UK GDPR aims to enhance data protection measures in the digital age.