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UK science secretary warns Britain is “desperately exposed” to cyber threats - researcher reacts

The UK science secretary has warned Britain is “desperately exposed” to cyber threats and the upheaval of another pandemic, and claims national resilience suffered “catastrophically” under the previous government.

Andrew Peck, a cyber resilience PhD researcher at Loughborough University who, prior to joining the institute, had a career delivering IT solutions to big industry, healthcare and government, responds to the declarations, which appeared in the Guardian.

“Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology has recently stated that the UK is “desperately exposed” to cyber-threats and other strategic big-ticket problems”, said Andrew.

“There is, of course, a political dimension to what he’s saying, but also a reaction to recent cyber events including: the CrowdStrike outages (just last week), ransomware and other cyber attacks on NHS capabilities, an attack on rail infrastructure in France that caused delays in St Pancras, and the ICO reprimanding the Electoral Commission following the conclusion of an investigation into a 2021 hack.

“That’s just the big four since Peter Kyle took over the job so it seems fair to say that he’s ‘not wrong’.

“And, in the 24 hours since drafting this response, Microsoft have acknowledged another cyber attack that’s impacted their services and, in turn, UK utilities providers.”

Andrew continued: “What is refreshing is to see is the UK Science Secretary talking in terms of resilience, and showing a genuine understanding of the dynamic threat picture that builds up the modern world.

“A similar picture exists for practically every country on the planet in today’s world of cyber-physical-social overlaps.

“However, not all countries will be thinking in terms of preparedness and weathering the storm by capacity building and longer-term improvements, like the UK government’s planned Cyber Security and Resilience Bill.

“To make sure that the Bill delivers, and that resilience genuinely grows, the government has a lot of work to do.

“The complexity of our digitally enabled economy means we must consider various interrelated issues, practices, and suppliers to ensure they are appropriately addressed, challenged, and engaged with effectively.

“However, this also presents an enormous opportunity for government, academia and industry to come together and work on the Bill and resilience measures.

“Not only will this benefit the UK, but it’ll also create a template for how to do things that partners and allies around the world can copy.

“Perhaps the most important thing that should happen now is taking the time to imagine worst-case and edge-case incidents and crises from a variety of perspectives.

“This will serve as a critical test for the new Bill, ensuring that the mistakes of COVID and CrowdStrike are not repeated due to a lack of pre-emptive analysis.”

Members of the media can contact m.a.cox@lboro.ac.uk to arrange interviews.

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 24/117

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines. 

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme and named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2024 QS World University Rankings – the eighth year running. 

Loughborough is ranked 6th in The UK Complete University Guide 2025, 10th in the Guardian University League Table 2024 and 10th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024. 

Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’, and in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 over 90% of its research was rated as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally-excellent’. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes. 

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking. 

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