DSIT’s CNI cybersecurity drive: design and monitoring lessons for engineers
Reviewed by Tom Sullivan
First reported on New Civil Engineer
30 Second Briefing
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has expanded its Cyber Runway Critical National Infrastructure programme with innovation accelerator Plexal to bring more cybersecurity SMEs into protecting UK energy, transport, water and digital networks. The scheme targets operational technology and industrial control systems used in assets such as substations, treatment works and tunnels, where legacy SCADA and remote monitoring are increasingly exposed to cyber-physical attacks. For civil and infrastructure engineers, this signals closer integration of cyber risk into asset design, condition monitoring and resilience planning.
Technical Brief
- DSIT’s involvement signals alignment with national cyber security strategy and NCSC guidance for CNI operators.
- For civil and infrastructure projects, procurement frameworks may increasingly require pre-qualified cyber‑secure OT vendors.
Our Take
Within our 172 Infrastructure stories, UK pieces involving the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) are still relatively rare, so this Cyber Runway CNI programme marks one of the more explicit crossovers between national digital policy and physical infrastructure resilience.
For UK infrastructure operators, DSIT’s use of Plexal as a delivery partner signals that cyber risk for critical national infrastructure is being channelled through innovation and SME ecosystems rather than only traditional defence or IT contractors, which can change procurement routes for asset owners and Tier 1s.
Among the 405 Safety/Projects-tagged items in our database, most safety coverage is still dominated by physical risk (collapses, flooding, worker protection), so a DSIT-backed CNI cybersecurity initiative highlights that cyber threats are starting to be treated on par with conventional safety hazards in infrastructure planning and operations.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
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