The government has begun classing data centres as critical infrastructure – which gives them greater protection – because of their importance to the UK’s cyber security and economy.

The critical national infrastructure (CNI) designation is given to systems considered necessary for a country to function and upon which daily life depends. The list was last updated in 2015 when the space and defence sectors were classed as CNI. Other key assets include energy and water supply, transportation, health and telecommunications.

Technology secretary Peter Kyle said that giving data centres the same protections should make them less likely to be compromised during outages, cyber attacks, and adverse weather events. This also puts them on an equal footing with other key utilities.

The impact of data centre security breaches can be profound and even risks lives. For example, the Crowd Strike incident earlier this summer affected around 60% of GP practices, which led to disruption to software holding patients’ appointment details, prescriptions and health records.

According to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the UK is home to the highest number of data centres in Western Europe.

Following the change, data centres can now expect greater government support to tackle critical incidents. Senior government officials will monitor and anticipate potential threats while providing prioritised access to security agencies, including the National Cyber Security Centre.

In the event of an attack on a data centre hosting critical NHS patients’ data, for example, the government would intervene to ensure contingencies are in place to mitigate the risk of damage to essential services, including on patients’ appointments or operations.

It is also hoped that CNI will give the industry greater reassurance when setting up business in UK.

“Data centres are the engines of modern life, they power the digital economy and keep our most personal information safe,” Kyle said.

“Bringing data centres into the CNI regime will allow better coordination and cooperation with the government against cyber criminals and unexpected events.”

Yesterday, Amazon Web Services announced plans to spend £8bn building data centres across the UK, creating an expected 14,000 jobs in the process. Data company DC01UK has also submitted proposals to build a £3.75bn data centre in Hertfordshire (pictured at top) that will be Europe’s largest if constructed.