Data Centres as CNI
It’s an obvious and interesting move to bring data centres under the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) designation. I read the article on BBC News and noticed:
“However there will not be any new regulations, nor is additional scrutiny of data centre operators’ existing contingency arrangements planned.”
Data centres as vital as NHS and power grid, government says
Critical national infrastructure status means they will get extra government support during emergencies.
Zoe KleinmanTechnology editorzsk
Fair enough. I wonder how much of the public consultation remains in place and what the new team will do? See link here.
But I’ve found it’s always good to go to the source:
Data centres to be given massive boost and protections from cyber criminals and IT blackouts
Data including vital NHS, financial, and personal smartphone data is set to be safer from cyber attacks, environmental disasters, and IT blackouts as part of government’s drive for economic growth.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology
“In the event of an attack on a data centre hosting critical NHS patients’ data, for example, the government would intervene to ensure contingencies are in place to mitigate the risk of damage or to essential services, including on patients’ appointments or operations.”
Government intervention in the event of an issue. I’m on the fence about that, but I think I’ve said before if you can’t keep your house in order…
Also - I’m really not sure this designation will help deter cyber criminals, AT ALL.
The ‘Notes to Editors’ comment was interesting:
“CNI will include both the physical data centres and the cloud operators that use them to supply ordinary services like iCloud on your iPhone, including companies such as Microsoft, Amazon and Google.“
Huh, it’ll be interesting to see what happens after the next major incident. Or indeed when the CNI Team get up and running.