WASHINGTON – The head of the United Kingdom’s top cybersecurity agency called for an increased focus on ensuring the continuity of critical services during a speech Wednesday at the Billington Cybersecurity Summit.
Richard Horne, CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre, said the ability to maintain critical services has become an increasingly important issue, more so than basic data protection, as the impact of malicious attacks has evolved in recent years.
Horne cited a 2021 attack on Irish healthcare where the sole focus was on securing critical patient data; however, there was a lack of planning to protect life saving medical services.
The U.K. has faced a series of major challenges in terms of business continuity in recent months. For example, a suspected ransomware attack against Jaguar Land Rover earlier this month has disrupted production at the luxury automaker.
NCSC said last week that it was working to support the company, which on Wednesday confirmed that data had been stolen.
Hackers linked to a series of retail attacks in the U.K., including the cybercrime group known as Scattered Spider, have claimed credit for the attack. However, they appear to be working in cooperation with other criminal actors.
The speech marked the first time that Horne has presented at the Washington-based conference since he took the helm as CEO of the U.K. agency in 2024. Horne was one of several international cybersecurity leaders to address the summit this week, and the U.K. is widely considered one of the most important U.S. allies in terms of threat intelligence and other forms of cooperation on cyber risk.
NCSC has worked closely with U.S. authorities in recent months on several key issues, including an August advisory linking three China-based technology companies to a threat campaign targeting foreign governments and critical infrastructure providers.
