Recent weeks have seen cybersecurity thrown into sharp focus. Continuous cyber-attacks at key times of the year for businesses providing online services disrupts their own business as well as the wider economy.
For tech companies, which are often both targets and service providers to these affected sectors, this evolving threat carries not just operational risk but also growing legal responsibility.
The new Cyber Security and Resilience (CS&R) Bill aims to address this challenge. Announced in the King’s Speech in July 2024 and set for introduction in Parliament later in 2025, it represents a significant strengthening of the UK’s cybersecurity framework.
The Bill’s purpose is to close critical gaps in national cyber defenses, impose new obligations on a broader array of digital infrastructure to protect the wider UK economy, and establish the UK as a global leader in cyber regulation.
Whilst we are still awaiting the introduction of the Bill to Parliament, for some in the technology sector, this is more than just another compliance hurdle. It is a legislative reset that directly affects how tech businesses operate their services.
In the meantime, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) published its ‘Cyber security and resilience policy statement’ at the start of April 2025. This provides an indication of what the key focus and measures are likely to be.
What Tech Companies Need to Know
The CS&R Bill will bring a much larger group of entities into its scope – especially Managed Service Providers and critical third-party vendors. DSIT estimates that around 1000 such providers will now fall within these regulatory parameters.
These entities will be subject to the same regulations as digital service providers under the NIS Regulations 2018. This means increased security obligations, mandatory reporting standards and greater scrutiny of supply chain practices. The government has acknowledged that this is likely to increase costs for these businesses but that this should be viewed as an investment to be treated as “trusted and reliable partners in the cybersecurity landscape”.
Cyber-attacks can have a wider impact when they affect supply chains. Any supply chain will usually hold a large quantity of data which could affect multiple parties in that supply chain, many of which might not be sufficiently prepared for the risk of a cyber-attack.
The Synnovis cyber-attack in 2024, which disrupted NHS services and postponed over 11,000 appointments, underscores just how far-reaching these incidents can be.
Under the new Bill, applicable entities like Managed Service Providers will be expected not only to secure their own infrastructure, but to actively monitor and assess the cybersecurity robustness of their partners.
At this stage, it is unclear the extent of these obligations, which will be set out in subsequent legislation and will likely involve some form of consultation with affected businesses.
Regulators will also be empowered to set sector-specific standards and respond quickly to emerging threats as a result of new delegated powers granted to the Secretary of State. The framework is deliberately designed to be flexible and capable of evolving in real time.
Preparing for a More Demanding Regime
So, what are the key takeaways for tech companies? Careful preparation and monitoring will be key.
- Understand your responsibility: Understand which parts of your organization – and which of your vendors – might fall within the Bill’s scope. Even if you fall outside, you may find that obligations are passed down from vendors or customers who’s business does fall within scope of the Bill.
- Map your exposure: Map what technology infrastructure, processes and software could be an exposure risk to your business.
- Invest in resilience: The Bill emphasises outcomes, not box-ticking. A robust incident response plan (including insurance cover), regular risk assessments, training staff on key cyber threats and board-level oversight will be essential. Invest in experience professionals and integrate best practice for cyber security throughout all business decision making.
- Track regulatory guidance and best practice: With the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) playing an influential role, align your practices with their evolving recommendations will serve both security and compliance ends.
- Engage with policymakers: The Bill is still in formation. For companies operating at scale, this is a crucial time to engage constructively and help shape realistic, effective standards and processes.
Being ahead of the curve on cybersecurity regulation isn’t just good compliance – it’s good business. It builds trust with customers, strengthens resilience and positions your business as a responsible actor in an increasingly high-risk digital environment.
Cybercrime is not going away – if anything, it is accelerating. Jonathan Ellison of the NCSC has said that DSIT’s proposals offer a “real opportunity” to counter this escalating threat and “give the UK some of the strongest protections in the world against advanced attackers”.
We will have to wait to see the full measures of the CS&R Bill upon its introduction to Parliament later this year, but there is no doubt that it is a key policy for the government in its aims to strengthen national security and create a strong and secure environment for businesses to operate and grow.
