UK businesses, and in particular start-up companies, face a variety of security-related threats. In some cases, these threats have the potential not just to cause financial or reputational damage to the business concerned, but also to threaten the UK's national security. In order to protect UK assets and infrastructure from national security threats, the National Security and Investment Act 2021 (NSI Act) was brought into force on 4 January 2022.
It is important that businesses both understand their obligations under the NSI Act regime, especially when seeking new investors, and take appropriate steps to guard against threats they face generally in their day-to-day operations.