The UK Government has officially designated data centres as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI), marking the first new classification since 2015.

Technology Secretary Peter Kyle emphasized that this designation is crucial for the digital economy and personal information security, enhancing government coordination against cyber threats.

This classification aims to bolster security measures for data centres, which are vital to the UK economy and the organizations that depend on them.

As part of the CNI, data centres will receive increased government support for incident recovery and threat anticipation, aligning them with essential services like water and energy.

NCSC CEO Felicity Oswald welcomed this move, highlighting the vital role of data centre services in the economy.

In a related development, Chancellor Rachel Reeves secured an £8 billion investment from Amazon Web Services to develop UK data centres, which is expected to create around 14,000 jobs annually.

Plans are underway for a massive data centre campus in Hertfordshire, which will be the largest in Europe, pending approval.

The proposed data centre is projected to create over 700 local jobs and support nearly 14,000 jobs nationwide, although concerns linger about the credibility of the company involved.

Despite many data centres already meeting CNI security levels, industry leaders believe that added government support will be beneficial.

Environmental concerns regarding the energy and water consumption of data centres persist, as they are known to be resource-intensive.

Cybersecurity experts have raised concerns about potential costs for businesses due to new regulations and the attractiveness of data centres to cybercriminals.

Overall, this new CNI designation is seen as a logical step to enhance protection against cyber-attacks and prevent significant IT disruptions in the UK.