Businesses are urged by UK Government to sign up to the Cyber Resilience Pledge. Briefly, that’s a declaration to ‘make cyber a board responsibility’, register for the UK official National Cyber Security Centre’sEarly Warning service; and register to theย Cyber Essentials Supplier Check Tool whereby the business would require that suppliers have met the Cyber Essentials standard.
At the Departmentย for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) Cyber Security Minister Baroness Liz Lloyd said: “Cyber security is now fundamental to economic growth, job creation and the resilience of the services people rely on every day.ย The UK has a worldโclass cyber sector that is creating skilled jobs and protecting our economy โ and government is doing more by investing in its own defences, legislating to require more of essential services and setting clear national standards.ย As threats evolve, businesses of all sizes need to step up and take practical action now. The Cyber Resilience Pledge is a clear call for companies to strengthen their defences, protect their customers and play their part in keeping the UK secure and competitive.”
Sectoral analysis
DSIT has meanwhile published annual cyber security sectoral analysis, showing the UK cyber sector grew 11 per cent last year to ยฃ14.7 billion, with the number of firms rising by by a fifth, to 2,603.
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Trevor Dearing, Director of Critical Infrastructure at Illumio, described theCyber Security and Resilience Bill and Cyber Resilience Pledge as a push in the right direction, which encourage organisations to go beyond compliance and detection toward true resilience. He said: “Organisations that prioritise resilience see greater operational stability, customer trust, productivity, and lower breach costs.
“Whilst extra funding and voluntary pledges are positive commitments, they wonโt address the scale of the problem or deliver the consistent outcomes the government is aiming for. With Mythos and other frontier AI models, there needs to be greater urgency to review cyber strategies and improve resilience, and the Cyber Resilience Pledge being both a pledge and voluntary may not create that urgency.
“The focus now must be on measurable risk reduction and protecting critical services during incidents. This is critical as AI-enabled attacks increase both the speed and impact of breaches. The government is right to urge organisations to step up, but it must also provide the support needed to reduce real-world damage when breaches inevitably occur.
“The growth of the UKโs security sector is great, but as the governmentโs Cyber Security Breaches Survey shows, increased spending and resources do not reduce the number or impact of cyberattacks. Many organisations still lack practical guidance and understanding of how to protect sensitive data and maintain critical services during incidents.โ
And VimalRaj Sampathkumar, Technical Head UK and Ireland at ManageEngine, said: โCyber threats are evolving at unprecedented speed, and the UKโs cyber security sector is booming in response. From what weโre seeing across our customers, AI is supercharging attacks and driving demand for stronger cyber resilience.
โWhatโs particularly notable is the rise of AI security as a fast-growing discipline. Organisations are not only using AI to strengthen threat detection and response, but are also increasingly focused on securing AI systems themselves as adoption accelerates.
โThe reality is that growth in the cyber sector also reflects the scale of the challenge organisations face today. Cyber resilience must now be embedded into every stage of digital transformation, from identity and access management to threat monitoring and supply chain security. The organisations that will succeed will be those that combine innovation with strong visibility, governance and resilience across their networks.โ
