The UK government introduced the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to Parliament on November 12^th, 2025. Science, Innovation and Technology Secretary Liz Kendall stated: “Cybersecurity is national security. This legislation will enable us to confront those who would disrupt our way of life.”

If you work in healthcare, energy, water, transport, or supply IT services to these sectors, this legislation will directly affect how you manage cybersecurity. Based on typical parliamentary timelines, we should expect implementation by 2026 with potential phased requirements – so it makes sense to be prepared.

Why this bill matters now

Cyberattacks cost the UK economy around £14.7 billion annually – which is 0.5% of GDP. Recent incidents show the real-world impact: the 2024 Synnovis ransomware attack disrupted over 11,000 NHS appointments at an estimated cost of £32.7 million. Hackers accessed the Ministry of Defence’s payroll through a managed service provider.

According to Outpost24 Product Director, Martin Jartelius: “In 2025 many organizations have seen new ways that their IT systems have been disrupted, accelerated by the use of AI and deepfakes, and using their own supply chains against them, this will only continue as we proceed into 2026 and beyond. 

“However, staying ahead of cyber threats will require that the right solutions are implemented. Efforts can be thwarted by using community initiatives with no accountability or support, rather than professional solutions that truly raise the security bar. All too often we hear from organizations who ‘think’ they are protected and are in compliance with guidance, but in reality they’re not, and often they only discover this after it’s too late.” 

How does this bill compare to NIS2?

The bill largely aligns with the EU’s NIS2 Directive (in force since January 2023) on core requirements while focusing on UK-specific priorities. For multinational organizations, complying with NIS2 requirements now generally establishes security maturity that will meet or exceed the UK bill’s requirements.

The UK bill focuses on managed service providers, data centers, critical suppliers, and smart energy controllers. NIS2 casts a wider net, covering approximately 18 sectors including postal services, manufacturing, food production, and wastewater management.

The UK bill introduces Designated Critical Suppliers (DCS) alongside existing Operators of Essential Services (OES) classifications. NIS2 uses “Essential” and “Important” tiers based on size and sector.

Who will the bill apply to?

Essential services:

• Healthcare (NHS trusts, diagnostic providers)
• Energy suppliers and smart grid operators
• Water and wastewater companies
• Transport networks

Digital infrastructure:

• Data centers
• Managed service providers offering IT support, help desk services, or cybersecurity
• Cloud service providers

Supply chains:

• Regulators can designate critical suppliers (like healthcare diagnostics or chemical suppliers to water firms) who must then meet minimum security requirements.

What are the new requirements?

Specific minimum standards haven’t been published yet and will be defined in secondary legislation. However, given the bill’s alignment with NIS2, organizations can reasonably prepare by implementing NIS2’s required measures: risk analysis and information security policies, incident handling, business continuity and crisis management, supply chain security, network security, and access control.

Based on what we know, organizations covered by the bill will need to:

• Report significant incidents faster: Notify regulators and the NCSC within 24 hours of significant or potentially significant cyber incidents, with full reports within 72 hours. Managed service providers must also alert affected customers promptly.
• Implement security measures: Organizations must have robust security controls and incident response plans in place. The bill emphasizes the Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) principles for critical organizations, covering areas like risk management, asset protection, detection capabilities, and incident response.
• Accept regulatory oversight: The Technology Secretary can instruct organizations to take specific protective actions where there’s a threat to national security, such as strengthening monitoring or isolating high-risk systems.

What are the penalties for non-compliance?

Turnover-based penalties make fines proportionate to company size, with proposed fines of £100,000 per day or 10% of daily turnover (whichever is higher) for failing to act against relevant threats. This aligns with NIS2’s approach (up to €10 million or 2% of global turnover for Essential entities).

The UK bill gives the Secretary of State powers to instruct action where national security is threatened, while NIS2 places accountability directly on corporate management for non-compliance.

How should organizations prepare?

While specific compliance requirements will be defined in secondary legislation, you can start preparing now based on what’s confirmed in the bill and reasonable expectations from NIS2 alignment:

Action	Why this matters	Resources
Assess your scope	Determine if you’re directly covered or supply critical services	Review bill factsheets
Review current security posture	Identify gaps against CAF principles and likely NIS2-aligned requirements	Refer to the NCSC’s CAF guidance
Implement the Cyber Governance Code	Build board-level accountability (confirmed requirement)	Follow Cyber Governance Code of Practice
Map your supply chain	Understand third-party risks (confirmed focus of the bill)	Document all critical suppliers and their access
Test incident response	Ensure 24-hour detection and reporting capability (confirmed timeline)	Conduct tabletop exercises

How Outpost24 can help

As organizations prepare for the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill’s requirements, comprehensive visibility and continuous monitoring become essential. Both the upcoming UK bill and NIS2 mandate a significant shift from reactive to proactive, risk-based cybersecurity.

Outpost24’s intelligence-led platform for cyber risk management helps organizations identify and reduce their attack surface – a core requirement of the new legislation’s focus on resilience. The platform directly supports compliance with the mandated Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF) principles that the bill will enforce for protection, detection, and governance.

Likely requirement	Outpost24 Solution	How it helps with compliance
Supply chain security	External Attack Surface Management (EASM)	Discovers and continuously monitors internet-facing assets of both the regulated entity and its suppliers – critical for assessing and managing third-party risks, a major focus of the bill’s expansion.
Detection and response	CompassDRP	Combines external attack surface management with threat intelligence to deliver real-time insights and proactively detect impersonations, breaches, and data leaks.
Governance and oversight	CyberFlex	Expert human pen testers deliver deep, actionable insights on critical apps, with ongoing management as an extension of your security team. Combined with EASM, it gives a view of security risk across the organization, assisting management and boards in meeting governance obligations.
Risk management & protection	Risk-based Vulnerability Management	Prioritizes vulnerabilities, helping to focus remediation on flaws that pose the highest real-world risk, ensuring systems are hardened as required by the bill

What we recommend now

We don’t have all the details yet, but it seems highly likely the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill fundamentally shifts how the UK protects critical infrastructure. For multinational organizations, the bill’s alignment with NIS2 means a unified compliance approach is achievable and complying with NIS2 now generally meets UK requirements too.

Start building resilience now, not just checking compliance boxes. The clock is ticking. If you need advice on meeting compliance with Outpost24 solutions, please reach out and speak to an expert.