NCSC Annual Review 2022
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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NCSC View: Future technology challenges
As digital technology integrates into our lives, our businesses and our infrastructure, some technologies are becoming central to the way we live. Countries that have a strategic advantage in science and technology and can drive innovation will be well placed to exert influence over others and shape global standards in ways that suit their own economic and political interests.
In response to the changing nature of the challenges to our cyber security the 2022 Cyber Strategy had two central aims. The first was to take the lead in the technologies that are critical to the future of cyber power, such as Quantum Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, Semiconductors and Future Telecoms. The second was to limit our reliance on individual suppliers or technologies that are developed under regimes that do not share our values and diversify markets.
We face an unprecedented set of issues and resolving them will require similarly unprecedented levels of innovation and cooperation between allies. To strengthen the Western influence in SDOs, we need to bring together our effort, focusing on critical technologies and taking action that both protects the global market and safeguards the SDOs themselves. Our best interests are not likely to be served by accepting further bifurcation of technology groupings, into one driven by the West and one by China. China has shown that it is prepared to invest to build market penetration around the world and its internal market is big enough to support a sovereign stack, and so we must be smarter in how we now respond.
A few technologies will have such far-reaching implications both for society and for national security that we must act in ways that are not solely driven by commercial considerations. As an example, Quantum computing has the potential to radically change our society, and also to damage our security if it is in the hands of our adversaries at an early stage. The UK is home to some of the most cutting-edge quantum computing research globally and it is essential that the underpinning science, engineering and industrialisation are protected from adversaries. Measures such as the National Security and Investment Act are important, enabling us to protect our market where predatory interventions impact our national security, but more thinking is needed on ways to help these ecosystems thrive while mitigating the risk of relying on an unconstrained global market or limiting open science.
We must remain committed to supporting the underpinning science, research and development, and the building of new products and industries. We must also make our supply chains resilient to shocks and able to mitigate interference from our adversaries. However, the real opportunity for our strategic advantage, is for the markets to be shaped to opt for our technologies and products reflecting our values, rather than those of our rivals. As technology becomes an increasingly important aspect of geopolitical power, we must expect competition in this arena to further intensify.
