UK MoD overhauling digital strategy amid concerns over ‘exceptionally vulnerable' networks

A virtual reality demonstration of the British Army's digital targeting web in July 2025, part of its Asgard command-and-control project. (MoD/Crown Copyright)

The UK armed forces' data and the network it is processed over are “exceptionally vulnerable” as the threats have changed, the head of digital strategy with defence digital at the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has told Janes .

Speaking to Janes at Defence IQ's Defence Transformation 2025 conference in London on 3 December, Brigadier Jamie Balfour said that UK forces' data is “exceptionally vulnerable as well as the network that our data is processed over”.

When asked about the evolving threat environment and its influence on the strategy, Brig Balfour said, “we are more vulnerable”, but added that “Defence [the MoD] is doing a significant amount of work to protect the data and the networks”. He confirmed that contracts are already aligned in “various areas” to address the shortfalls or to “amplify some of the work” being done to remove the vulnerabilities.

The United Kingdom's Data Strategy for Defence, which was published in September 2021, still includes “richness within details, but it must be updated”, Brig Balfour said. It will be updated with a new version based on new threats and emerging technologies. The MoD's new Digital and Data Strategy for Defence is expected to be published prior to the third quarter of 2026.

EW disruptions

A defence source told Janes on 9 October that some British Army soldiers stationed in Latvia in 2025 experienced targeted electronic warfare (EW) attacks. The nearly daily disruptions were aimed at the soldiers from across the border in Russia. When Janes