The Government Cyber Action Plan, which is backed by more than £210m, sets out how government will rise to meet the growing range of online threats. Driven by a new Government Cyber Unit, the plan will rapidly improve cyber defences and digital resilience across government departments and the wider public sector, so people can trust that their data and services are protected. 

Released as the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, which sets out clear expectations for firms providing services to government to boost their cyber resilience.

The plan will lead to:

• clearer visibility of risks: shining a light on cyber and digital resilience risks across government, so we can focus efforts where it matters most
• stronger central action on the toughest challenges: taking decisive, joined-up action across departments on severe and complex risks that no single organisation can solve alone with a dedicated team overseeing coordination
• faster response to threats and incidents: reacting quickly to fast-moving cyber threats and vulnerabilities to minimise harm and speed up recovery by requiring departments to have robust incident response arrangements in place
• higher resilience across government: boosting resilience at scale, with targeted measures to close major gaps and protect critical services.

Digital government minister, Ian Murray, said: ‘Cyber-attacks can take vital public services offline in minutes – disrupting our digital services and our very way of life. 

‘This plan sets a new bar to bolster the defences of our public sector, putting cyber-criminals on warning that we are going further and faster to protect the UK's businesses and public services alike.

‘This is how we keep people safe, services running, and build a government the public can trust in the digital age.'

In addition, a new Software Security Ambassador Scheme will help drive adoption of the Software Security Code of Practice - a voluntary project designed to reduce software supply chain attacks and disruption.