NHS England’s chief executive, Sir Jim Mackey, tells an NHS England board meeting that the risk of a “catastrophic” cyber attack is rising. He says the threat has grown “dramatically” over the past few weeks, according to the report. Mackey frames cyber security risk as a bigger concern than the prospect of another pandemic, warning that the potential impact of a severe attack could be significant for NHS services.
The report provides limited additional detail on the specific nature of the threat, its source, or the controls being put in place. It also does not quantify how the risk is being assessed or what scenarios are being considered. However, it indicates that NHS leadership is treating cyber threats as a current, urgent operational risk and is using recent developments to justify heightened concern.
Overall, the account focuses on the message delivered to the board: that recent changes have led NHS England to reassess the relative severity of cyber attack risk compared with pandemic risk.
