Coffee shops and critical national infrastructure providers alike have been tasked by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in the UK to protect themselves against online harms. It comes as the NCSC Annual Review 2025 found ‘highly significant’ attacks to seriously impact central government, UK services, the public or economy have grown 50% – a rise for the third year.
To prevent this, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and innovation and growth company, Plexal, have launched the Cyber Runway CNI programme. This is in accordance with the Cyber Growth Action Plan to grow a thriving cybersecurity sector that enables the UK to be the safest country online, while simultaneously changing the national culture for better risk awareness and management.
Funded by DSIT and delivered by Plexal, Cyber Runway CNI has welcomed six SMEs to contribute capabilities towards strengthening the UK’s critical national infrastructure (CNI) against evolving cyberthreats. The CNI programme will bridge the gap between cutting-edge UK cyber innovation and the urgent security needs of sectors such as energy, water, telecoms, transportation and data centres.
Plexal and DSIT have also sourced CNI representatives holding roles such as CISO to provide direct first-hand perspectives of challenges they’re facing. CISOs will benefit from access to vetted SME solutions, understanding how they can be applied to their problem areas.
This cross-sector collaboration will provide clarity to all parties, covering a range of themes. SMEs will have access to CNI buyers, investment valuations, growth strategies and more, while CNI peers will receive innovation discovery, regulatory awareness, supply chain resilience and beyond.
