In a world-first initiative, the UK’s Cyber Monitoring Centre (CMC) has commenced categorising cyber events impacting UK organisations.
The CMC will deliver a consistent and objective framework to assess the severity of major cyber events as they occur, categorising incidents on an easy-to-understand scale from one (least severe) to five (most severe).
The CMC will categorise cyber events that have a potential financial impact greater than GBP100 million, affect multiple organisations and where there is data or information available to enable assessment.
The CMC’s technical committee will use a wide range of data and analysis to assess and categorise incidents against the framework. Once the technical committee has categorised an event, the CMC will publish the event category from one to five through multiple channels. Each categorisation will be supported by an event report, which will provide an explanation of the analysis, including additional insights from the analysis work. All this information will be made available free of charge.
The Cyber Monitoring Centre is a completely independent, non-profit organisation responsible for analysing and categorising cyber events that impact UK organisations.
“The risk of major cyber events is greater now than at any time in the past as UK organisations have become increasingly reliant on technology,” said CMC CEO Will Mayes. “The CMC has the potential to help businesses and individuals better understand the implications of cyber events, mitigate their impact on people’s lives, and improve cyber resilience and response plans.”
“I would also like to acknowledge the support from a wide range of world-leading experts who have contributed so much time and expertise to help establish the CMC and continue to provide data and insights during events,” added Mayes. “Their ongoing support will be vital, and we look forward to add further expertise to our growing cohort of partners in the months and years ahead.”
