The UK is marking Critical Infrastructure Security Month (CISM) for the first time - alongside allies Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States of America.

CISM highlight the importance of boosting resilience among critical national infrastructure (CNI) including clean drinking water, reliable IT networks, the provision of energy, access to healthcare and emergency services.

Earlier this year, the government designated data infrastructure as a CNI subsector within the wider Communications sector. Through the CNI framework and closer partnership between government and industry, data housed and processed in UK data centres is less likely to be compromised during outages, cyber attacks, and adverse weather events.

In a statement, the cabinet office said: "Our CNI landscape has changed significantly in recent years. We are more aware than ever of the role cyber systems play in our everyday lives and, therefore, work within and outside government is carried out to strengthen the resilience of cyber CNI.  

"The resilience of our CNI is fundamental to this government’s missions: their success must rest on resilient foundations. That is why we work across government and with industry and devolved governments to ensure our CNI is as resilient as possible. Our constant close working with our international partners, highlighted during CISM, is also a core part of this endeavour."