UK Government launches Cyber Security Strategy for the public sector

The UK government has today published its Government Cyber Security Strategy, which sets out its plans to increase the resilience of the public sector against cyber threats.

Driven by an ambition for the UK to be an exemplar of best practice - as set out in the recently published National Cyber Strategy - the Strategy establishes a framework for transforming how cyber security is approached across the public sector with a strategic partnership with the UK cyber security industry at its heart.

The ambitious Strategy takes a top-down approach, setting concrete milestones and a clear vision of how it intends to achieve them. While other governments around the world have pursued policies that levy government buying power to effect change - such as the proposals in President Biden's Executive Order on Improving the Nation's Cybersecurity - few have set out such a detailed plan for defending the public sector.

Specifically, the UK government's Strategy establishes how its critical functions should be significantly hardened to cyber attacks by 2025, with all public sector organisations set to be made resilient to known vulnerabilities no later than 2030.

Key initiatives outlined in the Strategy include: a new Government Cyber Coordination Centre (GCCC); a new detailed assurance regime based on the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF); and plans for strategic partnerships with the private sector to be further embedded across government. Plans for a new vulnerability reporting service and an accelerated work programme to manage the growing risk posed by supply chains have also been set out.

Ollie Whitehouse, Global CTO at NCC Group, said: "Today's Government Cyber Security Strategy sets out a truly world-leading approach to strengthening cyber and operational resilience across critical government functions. This type of comprehensive, measurable approach sets a strong example for the private sector and other governments globally. It will no doubt act as a catalyst for change - organisations that want to partner with the government will have to up their game to meet increasing standards.

"A whole-of society approach will be essential to delivering the government's aims, which I'm pleased to see strongly reflected in the Strategy. NCC Group is incredibly proud to have played our part over the years, providing technical input into the development of new policies such as this one and as a delivery partner to government. We stand ready to support the public sector as it embarks on delivering this new framework."