Data Centers are now Critical Infrastructure
12 Sep 2024
Data centres in the UK are to be classified as critical national infrastructure now, joining the emergency services, finance and healthcare systems as well as energy and water supplies. It means they would get extra government support during a major incident, such as a cyber attack, an IT outage or extreme weather, in order to minimise disruption.
Data centres are huge warehouses full of vast banks of computers that remotely power services such as artificial intelligence (AI) applications, data processing and streaming. New Labour government says it backs the sector, with technology secretary Peter Kyle describing data centres as “the engines of modern life”.
There are currently 13 sectors listed as critical national infrastructure in the UK. The list was last updated nine years ago, when space and defence were added.
The previous government launched a consultation in December 2023 to discuss the potential addition of data centres.
A team of officials will now be set up to specifically monitor potential threats against data centres and coordinate a response in the event of a serious incident, such as the recent worldwide chaos sparked by an update from the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which affected millions of people and businesses.
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