UK Technology Secretary Peter Kyle announced Thursday that data centers in the country are now classed as part of the UK’s Critical National Infrastructure (CNI). This is the first new CNI designation since the Space and Defense sectors in 2015.
The move is logical and well-received (given the importance of data to the national economy) but has raised eyebrows over praise for a proposed new data center to be built in the ‘protected’ Green Belt region of the country.
“Data centers are the engines of modern life, they power the digital economy and keep our most personal information safe,” said Kyle. “Bringing data centers into the Critical National Infrastructure regime will allow better coordination and cooperation with the government against cyber criminals and unexpected events.”
The primary advantages of inclusion within the CNI are cybersecurity, financial, and regulatory government assistance. Thursday’s announcement concentrates on the security aspects. “CNI designation will, for example, see the setting up of a dedicated CNI data infrastructure team of senior government officials who will monitor and anticipate potential threats, provide prioritized access to security agencies including the National Cyber Security Centre, and coordinate access to emergency services should an incident occur,” says the government.
In other words, a new team of senior government officials will ‘monitor and anticipate potential threats’ (as already done by the security professionals at the NCSC) and then coordinate those threats with those same security professionals at the NCSC.
“Critical National Infrastructure status will also deter cyber criminals from targeting data centers…” adds the government. This is a naive statement – that’s not going to happen. Note, for example, CISA’s recent warning in the US: Russian Military Cyber Actors Target US and Global Critical Infrastructure (September 5, 2024).
Then comes the new data center. “The huge £3.75 billion private investment announced today in Hertfordshire is a vote of confidence in those plans and a clear example of my determination to ensure technological advancements are helping to grow our economy and create wealth across the country,” continued Kyle.
This is slightly misleading since the investment and plans are not strictly yet guaranteed. A planning permission request to allow construction of a massive new data center on Green Belt protected land (the Green Belt is land designated to remain open and rural) was only submitted to the planning authorities on the same day as this CNI announcement.
The company concerned is DC01UK (which suggests ‘data center #1 in the UK’); but little is known about it. According to UKTN, “DC01UK was founded in 2022 but so far has only published dormant company accounts. Two connected companies called DC01AB and DC01 Holdings were incorporated on 30 August 2024.”
DC01UK does have a website, but the website solely announces the proposed new data center – there is no information about the company at all.
Despite this lack of information about DC01UK, the government’s CNI announcement makes much of this new data center. The CNI designation, “Follows near £4 billion proposed investment in Europe’s largest data center in Hertfordshire which will support almost 14,000 jobs across the country.” And, “It comes as the government today welcomes a proposed £3.75 billion investment in Europe’s largest data center, as plans have been submitted to Hertsmere Borough Council for construction in Hertfordshire by data company DC01UK which will directly create over 700 local jobs and support 13,740 data and tech jobs across the country.”
The CNI designation is good news for the data center industry in the UK. But the strong endorsement for an unknown company that has only submitted a planning proposal for a massive new data center on Green Belt land on the same day as the CNI announcement raises a few eyebrows.
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