UK Minister for Digital on CyberSecurity..

Britain’s most critical industries are being warned to boost cyber security or face hefty fines, as the government acts to protect essential services from cyber attacks.

"We want our essential services and infrastructure to be primed and ready to tackle cyber-attacks and be resilient against major disruption to services," said the current Minister for Digital, Margot James.

In August last year, it was mentioned by the former Minister of Digital Matt Hancock, that a new government directive is being considered, that will allow regulators to inspect the Cyber Security status of companies.
More specifically, it was said that companies in the Energy, Transport, Water and Health sectors, are expected to have "the most robust safeguards".

The Global Risks Landscape 2018

Towards the end of each year, we tend to come across several reports and white papers that discuss the cyber-threat predictions/concerns for the following year. However, I do believe that very few of these reports really attempt to dig deep when it comes to emerging Cyber related threats and really discuss future trends. 

I have had several discussions regarding the future of cyber risk exposure and how cyber risk assessments will start experiencing a significant shift in the following months. There is a bigger picture when it comes to cyber threats and cyber crime. It is not only how much a data breach or business disruption will cost, but at what scale it affects people's lives. This is the moment we need to take a step back and look at magnitude and implications. The main reasons why things should be expected to dramatically change in the Cyber front between 2018-2020, are briefly outlined below:

a) The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). GDPR has brought Information Security and Cyber Security into the boardroom as a discussion topic, "motivating" stakeholders to act upon the requirements before the regulation is finally in effect (25 May 2018). You should also consider that the disclosure of a breach needs to take place within 72 hours from the moment it was detected, the increased cost of responding to a data breach, and the fines imposed under GDPR.    

b) The number of Cyber attacks expected in 2018 and their impact, according to the Cyber Security Breaches Survey conducted for 2017. (FYI: The official Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2018 detailing business action on cyber security and the costs and impacts of cyber breaches and attacks will be publish in April 2018).

c) Now consider the domino effect when it comes to the scale and magnitude of the cyberattacks anticipated by 2020, in contrast with the current state of readiness of business entities and their dependencies across all industries. 

The recently published Global Risk Report by the World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org) has highlighted some very important facts regarding the risk perception for the year 2018. Cyberattacks are now perceived as a global risk of highest concern, especially to business leaders in advanced economies. Cyber is also viewed by the wider risk community as the risk most likely to intensify in 2018 according to the publish Global Risks Report.