Today’s data centers are the critical computing infrastructure that powers the modern Internet.
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LONDON — Britain said Thursday it would classify data centers as critical infrastructure, a move expected to bolster cybersecurity in the country and allow operators of vital computing facilities to work with the government to protect data from malicious attacks and outages.
UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said British data centers would be given the “critical national infrastructure” (CNI) designation, a designation usually reserved for key sectors such as energy, nuclear, defence, space and emergency services.
“Data centers power modern life, power our digital economy and secure our most personal information,” Kyle said in a statement on Thursday.
Kyle said granting critical infrastructure status to data centers would allow the government to respond more effectively to hackers and unexpected cyber attacks.
The government said data centre operators would effectively be given a direct line of communication with the government to prepare for and respond to data threats.
This is the first time in nearly a decade that a new sector has received the CNI designation: space and defense were both granted CNI status in 2015.
£4 billion data centre investment
Meanwhile, the UK also said on Thursday it supported plans submitted by a company called DC01UK to develop a massive 85-acre data center in Hertfordshire, England that the UK says would be Europe’s largest when completed.
DC01UK will inject 3.75 billion pounds ($4.9 billion) of funding into new data center projects, which are expected to directly create more than 700 local jobs and support 13,740 data and technology roles in the UK, according to the government.
Following in the footsteps of US tech giants Amazon The company said on Wednesday it will invest 8 billion pounds ($10.45 billion) in Britain over the next five years through its AWS cloud computing unit to build and operate data centers in the country.
Data centers are a vital part of today’s modern internet. They enable cloud computing, the massive delivery of internet services to end users via remote servers.
If they go offline, it could cause major disruptions for internet users and even bring down vital services.
The government said it needed to focus on critical data infrastructure after a major global IT outage earlier this year that disrupted most UK doctors’ practices, which was caused by a faulty software update issued by a US cybersecurity firm. Crowdstrike.
The UK has bigger plans to bolster its domestic cybersecurity: earlier this summer, as part of the King’s Speech, it was announced that a new Cybersecurity and Resilience Bill would be introduced that would require providers of critical IT infrastructure to protect their supply chains from attacks.
