Nov 2025
Cyber Bill to strengthen the UK’s resilience to evolving threats
Cyberattacks have cost the UK economy over £14.7 billion, with more than 40% of organisations experiencing a cyber incident in the past 12 months according to recent government stats, with headlines showing that even the mighty can fall.
In response to these stark statistics, the UK Cyber Resilience Bill, which aims to strengthen the cyber resilience of our most critical industries including energy, healthcare, water, transport and digital services, had its first reading in parliament yesterday (12th Nov).
For the first time, the Bill also brings into scope critical suppliers to those industries, a wider range of digital services provided by medium and large IT ‘managed service providers’, and datacentres, for enhanced cyber security standards.
While this move alone will have a positive impact, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is clear in its recent annual report that it’s time for all businesses to act, not just those directly involved with the UK’s critical national infrastructure.
A range of updated guidance is now available on the NCSC’s website, including a revised version of the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) which acts as a best practice guide to enhancing your cyber security measures.
Waterstons is a member of the cyber resilience audit scheme, set up by the NCSC to provide a trusted list of cyber partners to critical industries, and support the assessment of the updated CAF.
For more information on the CAF including a summary of the recent cyber security and resilience bill please visit: www.waterstons.com/caf for advice guidance and support to accelerate your cyber resilience programme, or contact cyber@waterstons.com
As the slogan of the NCSC’s Annual Report clarifies - it’s time to act!