United
Kingdom

How The UK Excels In Cybersecurity Preparedness

In a digital and AI-powered world, cyber resilience is critical to a nation’s economic growth. And with evolving threats from artificial intelligence and new technologies, cybersecurity is growing ever more vital. The United Kingdom is a leader in its ability to prepare for and respond to cyber threats thanks to government initiatives to grow the cybersecurity industry and offer training and tools for the public and private sectors.

Resilience

The UK’s national cybersecurity plan seeks to bolster industry growth and government resilience

The UK’s 2025 Cyber Growth Action Plan aims to foster innovation and expertise among cybersecurity firms by offering incentives, setting a standard for high-quality reporting of cyber risks, appointing a government leader to drive growth across the security industry, and boosting public participation in building cyber skills. To encourage the cyber sector’s growth, the government is providing guidance and partial funding for up to 500 UK organizations involved in emerging technology.

This ambition runs in parallel to the UK's 2030 cybersecurity plan, which aims to bolster all government organizations against vulnerabilities and attacks by the end of the decade.

Meanwhile, rapidly evolving cyber threats spurred the government in 2024 to grant new powers to the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation, and Technology, to allow more reflexive responses in updating government regulations.

The UK government is proactive in offering cybersecurity guidance and tools for the private sector

Cyberattacks in the UK are escalating at an alarming pace. The National Cyber Security Center dealt with a record 204 nationally significant attacks between January and September 2025 — up from 89 the previous year. Eighteen attacks had the potential to seriously affect essential services.

The severity and rate of attacks is so strong that the agency recently recommended that chief executives have physical copies of their business plans as a contingency. To help businesses fend off cyberattacks, the government launched a training program in 2025 to help board members and senior professionals govern cyber risks in their businesses, along with a free cyber action toolkit for small businesses. It’s a pertinent initiative, with 34% of European CEOs citing increased board involvement in providing specialized expertise like cybersecurity, according to a survey of 77 European chief executives conducted from June to August 2025 by the Oliver Wyman Forum.

Separately, the UK and Singapore governments published new guidance for UK businesses to protect themselves against ransomware threats on supply chains in October 2025.

The UK boasts a growing cybersecurity sector

The UK’s private cybersecurity sector is growing, with annual revenues now reaching nearly $18 billion and employment rising to 67,300 people — up by 12% and 6,600 from the previous year, respectively. Government plans to grow the industry even further include $21.5 million in 2025 funding to support the academic cyber sector in turning research into commercial companies and to help startups and small and medium-sized enterprises scale and access new markets.

Separately, the UK’s Laboratory for AI Security Research has partnered with a tech firm to experiment with AI cybersecurity tools to support the country’s national security and critical infrastructure. The UK government also has a public-private partnership with Japan’s Business Federation to collaborate on cyber threats.