UK inspectorate urges police and fire services to harden cybersecurity
Original title: Watchdog Urges Police and Fire Service to Improve Cybersecurity
A January–May 2026 inspection found legacy systems, weak third-party controls and uneven national coordination.
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services published a report on October 27 warning that cyber risk to UK police forces and fire and rescue services is rising faster than many organizations’ response. The three-phase inspection, from January to May 2026, reviewed more than 260 documents and found gaps in legacy ICT, supplier risk, backups, access control and senior accountability. HMICFRS issued 13 recommendations, including baseline standards, Cyber Essentials for suppliers and a national fire-service capability similar to the Police Digital Service’s National Management Centre.
- Inspectors called legacy ICT a strategic risk because of patching and integration limits.
- Several leaders said cybersecurity is not part of daily operational decisions.
- Recommendations include the Cyber Assessment Framework and mandatory Cyber Essentials for ICT suppliers.
- The report also calls for backup, restore and incident-response exercises.
- 1.Adopt baseline standards such as the Cyber Assessment Framework.
- 2.Require Cyber Essentials certification in third-party ICT supplier contracts.
- 3.Practice backup, restore and incident response for police and fire systems.
- Organizations
- HMICFRSPolice Digital Service
- Countries
- United Kingdom
From the original article
2 min read at infosecurity-magazine.com
UK police forces and fire and rescue services have been urged to strengthen cybersecurity as rising cyber threats outpace current defenses
By Phil Muncaster · infosecurity-magazine.com
A short excerpt; the article and its images belong to the publisher. Summary, key facts and assessment above are AI-written from the article and can be wrong.