Britain's long-term risk planning is running short on power, meaning the nation is exposed to cyber threats from external threats, according to the latest HoL (house of lord) report. The report titled "Preparing for extreme risks: Building a resilient society," was released by the Select Committee on Risk Assessment and Risk Planning (upper chamber) with 85 expert witnesses after the interview.
According to the HoL report, "the Committee was formed amid the global upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst the Committee never intended to undertake a COVID-19 inquiry, the pandemic has taught us daily lessons about the need for better resilience. The whole of society currently is engaged in a fight against the virus." The report concludes that the government is spending a lot of time responding to emergencies and crises, ignoring the type of long-term plans which would have prepared the UK for the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK's failure to handle the Covid-19 outbreak was evident and clear.
Besides this, the research analyzing the risk assessment process discovered that the current machinery doesn't have the proper task force to determine and address future problems and threats. But, the pandemic isn't the only risk that the UK is facing. Critical space weather incidents could affect smart technology, most of the users are dependent on it. It includes internet, GPS, power supplies, and communication systems. A cybersecurity attack on UK's national infrastructure can have major repercussions. An AXA report released earlier this year said cybersecurity is the second biggest global problem, after climate change.
It was listed as the number one business risk in the coming decade by North American and UK survey respondents to WEF (World Economic Forum) report released in 2020. "We consider that generalized resilience is the right response to the threat of increasingly unpredictable risk. The Government’s risk management system should change from attempting to forecast and mitigate discrete risks, towards a more holistic system of preparedness. Reframing risk management through the lens of resilience would produce a risk management system that ties all sectors of society together," reports HoL.
