UK pledges £90M for SME cyber resilience

The UK has unveiled a £90 million cybersecurity funding package at the CYBERUK conference, a sum earmarked primarily to bolster the defenses of small and medium-sized enterprises and accelerate adoption of the Cyber Essentials standard, which recently surpassed ten thousand quarterly certifications for the first time, reports Infosecurity Magazine.

UK Security Minister Dan Jarvis also previewed a forthcoming Cyber Resilience Pledge that will ask major organizations to elevate security oversight to the board level, enroll in the NCSC's Early Warning service, and mandate Cyber Essentials across their supply chains. However, industry figures were quick to temper the announcement with calls for more structural intervention.

OPSWAT executive James Neilson argued the investment is "nowhere near enough," noting that SMEs suffer from a knowledge deficit as much as a funding gap, while Illumio's Trevor Dearing emphasized the need for practical guidance on maintaining critical service continuity during incidents.

TrendAI's Jonathan Lee urged the government to move beyond gentle encouragement toward concrete incentives like tax credits, asserting that "we have to move from this position of gently encouraging organizations" toward tangible financial motivators that transform cybersecurity from a recommended practice into an economically rational investment.

Written by

Kelley Damore Chief Content Officer CyberRisk Alliance

Kelley Damore is Chief Content Officer at CyberRisk Alliance, where she leads content strategy across the company’s digital brands, research, communities and live events serving CISOs and security practitioners. At CyberRisk Alliance, she is focused on delivering 365-day engagement, trusted journalism and actionable insights to help security leaders navigate an increasingly complex threat landscape.