UK designates the data center sector part of its ‘Critical National Infrastructure’

The British government announced on Thursday it had designated the data center sector as a part of the country’s critical national infrastructure (CNI) meaning it would receive the same level of attention from officials as sectors including energy and water supplies.

“Data including vital NHS, financial, and personal smartphone data is set to be safer from cyber attacks, environmental disasters, and IT blackouts,” the government declared alongside the designation. 

The declaration is more of a statement of intent than an immediate product of the move, according to sector representatives who spoke to Recorded Future News.

It does not immediately mean the sector is covered by any new regulations — although these could be advanced when the government lays its new Cyber Security and Resilience Bill before parliament later this year — but is really a mechanism for government officials to prioritize engaging with the sector’s representatives and ensure that sites keep running in cases of crisis.

Thirteen other sectors are currently designated as CNI in the United Kingdom (chemicals, civil nuclear, communications, defense, emergency services, energy, finance, food, government, health, space, transport and water) meaning they are considered “necessary for a country to function and upon which daily life depends.”

As a sector-wide designation, the government intends to signal to both physical data centers in the country — some of which already have site-specific CNI designations, for instance those handling government or defense data — as well as cloud operators such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google, that it will be on hand in the case of a crisis.

“Putting data centres on an equal footing as water, energy and emergency services systems will mean the data centres sector can now expect greater government support in recovering from and anticipating critical incidents, giving the industry greater reassurance when setting up business in UK and helping generate economic growth for all,” stated the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Now, alongside its exemption from energy blackouts, the sector will be supported by “a dedicated CNI data infrastructure team of senior government officials who will monitor and anticipate potential threats, provide prioritised access to security agencies including the National Cyber Security Centre, and coordinate access to emergency services should an incident occur.”

As an example, the government suggested that in “the event of an attack on a data centre hosting critical NHS patients’ data” it “would intervene to ensure contingencies are in place to mitigate the risk of damage or to essential services, including on patients’ appointments or operations.”

The sector is largely welcoming the move, particularly in the wake of the European energy crisis back in 2022 caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Although the plans were ultimately not needed due to a mild winter, in the autumn of that year the British government’s “reasonable worst case scenario” suggested that rolling blackouts for both businesses and households might have to be imposed to preserve natural gas supplies.

Sectors designated as CNI, such as telecommunications, would have been exempt from such blackouts. However, representatives from the data center sector warned that their businesses would not have been — potentially meaning that the critical services depending on them, including communications, would have been unable to function.

According to the government, the status “will also deter cyber criminals from targeting data centres that may house vital health and financial data, minimising disruption to people’s lives, the NHS and the economy,” although it did not respond to a question regarding how.

It comes as Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for technology, welcomed a proposed £3.75 billion ($4.88 billion) investment from the company DC01UK to build Europe’s largest data center in Hertfordshire, just north of London.

“Data centres are the engines of modern life, they power the digital economy and keep our most personal information safe. Bringing data centres into the Critical National Infrastructure regime will allow better coordination and cooperation with the Government against cyber criminals and unexpected events,” said Kyle.

“The huge £3.75bn private investment announced today in Hertfordshire is a vote of confidence in those plans and a clear example of my determination to ensure technological advancements are helping to grow our economy and create wealth across the country.”