The British Government announced on Thursday that UK data centres will now be registered as “critical national infrastructure” to ensure enhanced cybersecurity protection.
The new label will offer servers and infrastructure systems, which are responsible for supporting the country's communications, an additional layer of protection from cyberattacks.
Britain said the move would reassure companies building data centers, such as DC01UK, which has submitted proposals to invest 3.75 billion pounds ($4.88 billion) in Europe's largest data center in Hertfordshire.
Read also: Hackers have penetrated Apple and Microsoft data centers
“The inclusion of Critical National Infrastructure status for data centres will facilitate better coordination and collaboration with government in combating cybercrime and responding to unforeseen incidents,” said UK Technology Minister Peter Kyle.
Cyber threats are increasing, with hostile states and criminals exploiting artificial intelligence to attack vulnerabilities.
We are introducing new laws to strengthen our cybersecurity, and today we have moved forward with better protections for UK data centres. The government has announced that this new policy will place data centres on the same level of importance as water and energy, allowing for the limitation of financial losses in the event of critical incidents.
On Wednesday, Amazon Web Services, Amazon's cloud computing arm, announced it would invest 8 billion pounds ($10.5 billion) in Britain over the next five years to build and operate new data centers.
See more: Chinese hackers use Visual Studio Code for cyberattacks
Recent incidents have highlighted the vulnerability of our services to power outages. For example, in July, a CrowdStrike impacted healthcare appointments across the country.
Source: cybernews
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