The UK government has announced that more than 60 organisations, including retailers, banks and technology firms, have signed its Cyber Resilience Pledge, committing to strengthen their cyber defences.
The initiative, led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), is part of the government’s upcoming National Cyber Action Plan and follows concern over the financial impact of cyber crime on UK organisations.
Signatories include Marks & Spencer, Nationwide Building Society, ITV, Microsoft UK, Cloudflare, Deloitte, Accenture, Vodafone Group and VodafoneThree.
Under the voluntary pledge, the government said, organisations agreed to make cyber security a board-level responsibility by adopting the government’s Cyber Governance Code of Practice and ensuring board members complete NCSC cyber governance training.
They will also register for the NCSC’s Early Warning service, which alerts organisations to suspicious activity on their networks, and adopt a risk-based approach to requiring suppliers to achieve the government-backed Cyber Essentials certification.
According to the government, over five million cyber crimes were committed against UK businesses last year and the NCSC handled 204 nationally significant cyber incidents in the year to September, up from 89 the previous year.
The average cost of a significant cyber attack on a UK business now stands at almost £195,000, with the wider annual economic impact estimated at £14.7 billion.
The government said organisations signing the pledge will publish the commitment on their websites and provide annual updates on the progress they have made.
Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said that the businesses signing the pledge are taking action to strengthen their cyber defences and setting a powerful example for others to follow.
“Cyber attacks can disrupt services, put customers’ data at risk and have a real impact on the bottom line,” she added. “As AI makes these threats more sophisticated and easier to launch, no organisation can afford to stand still.”
In May, the British Chamber of Commerce listed cyber crime as a major barrier to economic growth, with high profile attacks such as the one against Marks & Spencer costing the business over £300 million.
