Securing the future: why cybersecurity must be secure by design – and by default

The UK Public Accounts Committee’s recent report sends a clear and urgent message: cyber threats are evolving faster than defenses can keep up. The digital infrastructure underpinning our critical infrastructure is increasingly exposed—not only due to external threats but because of internal gaps in strategy, capability, and legacy system management.

Replacing outdated technology may be part of the solution, but it’s far from the full picture. We need a fundamental shift in mindset—toward continuous assurance, smarter system design, and a dynamic approach to skills development that anticipates the challenges of tomorrow, not just today.

Beyond ‘build and forget’: cybersecurity as an ongoing commitment

For too long, cybersecurity has followed a static, compliance-driven model—deploy once, tick the box, and move on. In today’s evolving threat landscape, this ‘build and forget’ mentality is no longer viable, if it ever was.