Looking back at the National Cyber Security Centre's sixth year and its key developments and highlights, between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022.
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Digital dependence
The debate over Huawei and its role in the UK’s 5G networks prompted governments around the world to understand they were facing potential national security risks through their dependence on technology from countries with authoritarian regimes. Governments continue to assess their CNI supply chains and seek to mitigate the risks by removing or restricting technologies from the countries they distrust. This is hastening the partition of technology into one ecosystem dominated by the “West” and one that is dominated by China.
Digital dependence can also be seen in other ways. As China extends the use and influence of its technology, via the Digital Silk Road initiative, third-party countries dependent on Beijing’s support for their digital infrastructure are arguably more likely to support them in international institutions, such as the UN or WTO. The technology itself creates a dependency as once it is installed it is expensive to remove. Even those countries who disagree with the values that are attached to Chinese dependency may choose to accept them for their own national interests.
