Utilities organisations sit at the heart of UK Critical National Infrastructure, but rising cyber threats, legacy operational technology and regulatory pressure are creating new resilience challenges. Bridewell’s 2026 research explores the threats, pressures and operational realities shaping cyber security across the utilities sector.
What You’ll Learn
Utilities organisations face a unique combination of essential service delivery, ageing infrastructure, sensitive customer and operational data, complex supplier ecosystems and growing regulatory expectations. This report examines how those pressures are affecting cyber strategy, incident response, workforce readiness and resilience planning.
Inside the report, discover:
- Why outdated software and unavailable patches on legacy equipment are the most common cyber incidents affecting utilities organisations.
- How phishing, business email compromise, malware, unauthorised access and supply chain attacks continue to expose the sector.
- Why data protection and privacy, AI cyber risk and rapid incident detection are now leading concerns for utilities organisations.
- How cyber incidents are causing IT disruption, data loss, revenue loss from downtime and operational disruption to production or services.
- Why supply chain attacks and data theft remain among the most complex incidents to respond to.
- How utilities organisations are addressing the cyber skills gap through upskilling, automation, external specialists and third-party partnerships.
- Why confidence gaps remain around breach notification, data protection measures, third-party due diligence and Privacy by Design.
- How frameworks such as Cyber Essentials, ISO 27001, CAF, NIS2 and NIST are shaping cyber security maturity across the sector.
