The UK government has announced that data centres will be categorised as part of the country’s critical national infrastructure, joining the emergency services, financial and healthcare systems, and energy and water supplies. This move would give them additional government support during a significant incident, such as a cyber attack, IT outage, or severe weather, to decrease any disruption that may be caused. Data centres are warehouses full of computers that remotely power services such as data processing, artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and streaming. They have received criticism due to their high energy and water consumption. The new Labour government has expressed support, and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle has referred to data centres as “the engines of modern life”.
Currently, thirteen sectors are viewed as critical national infrastructure in the UK; the last amendment was nine years ago when space and defence were added. The previous government launched a consultation in December 2023 concerning the possibility of adding data centres to the list. A designated team will be created to monitor potential threats against data centres and respond to any serious incidents, such as the recent worldwide chaos caused by Crowdstrike’s update. No new regulations or added scrutiny of data centre operators’ existing arrangements are envisioned.
“Many people think of services as being in an ethereal cloud, but everything is based at some point on physical infrastructure, and more often than not, this is based in a data centre,” said Prof Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert from Surrey University. Former Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden warned of Russian “attempts to attack British infrastructure” in 2023.
The demand for data centres is increasing, in part due to the proliferation of AI-based services that necessitate substantial computing power. On Wednesday, Amazon Web Services pledged to invest £8bn in Britain over the next five years in building and operating data centres. While Microsoft and Google are currently constructing their first UK data centres, environmental concerns persist regarding their demand for resources, and data centre power usage in the UK is projected to rise six-fold in the next ten years, according to the CEO of National Grid. Data centre plans often encounter local opposition, with Buckinghamshire councillors rejecting a proposed development due to the impact on green belts. Bringing data centres under the Critical National Infrastructure regime will boost collaboration with the government against cyber criminals and unexpected events, according to Lindy Cameron, the National Cyber Security Centre’s boss
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