National Security Infrastructure Bill (NISB)

Overview

Isle of Man residents should have confidence in the security and resilience of national infrastructure sectors to deliver essential goods and services. Essential services provided by both public and private sectors – such as our electricity grid, water supply and telecommunications systems should be able to withstand and recover from hazards that might disrupt their functions.

Unfortunately, hostile entities and criminals have recognised that this dependency creates an opportunity for what have become known as ‘cyber-attacks’.

The Department of Home Affairs wishes to introduce a National Infrastructure Security Bill to raise levels of cyber security and resilience for core services on the Isle of Man, which rely heavily on digital services.

For the purposes of this legislation the National Infrastructure means the systems and assets, including physical, digital and organisational, that are essential to the functioning of the Isle of Man and its economy.

The National Infrastructure for the Isle of Man comprises of many elements, commonly known as sectors and within those sectors will be businesses and organisations working to deliver the services upon which we rely.

Within this wide collection of businesses and organisations, known as providers, some will be more critical to our daily lives and the Isle of Man economy than others. Equally some will be larger than others.

To explain this further we've created a handy guide to the proposed bill, and we encourage you to read the NISB Reference Guide (opens in a new tab).

Previous Consultations

As part of the National Cyber-Security Strategy 2022-27 (opens in a new tab) we are committed to developing a resilient and responsive digital island. A core tenant of this is insuring our critical national infrastructure remains resilient in the face of a cyber-attack.

To that end, ln February to March 2024 we consulted on the policy principles of the proposed bill. This consultation served to explore how a potential bill would look and whether it was necessary to ensure national security.

Feedback gave us a mandate to proceed with drafting the bill and results from the previous consultation can be found below.

NISB Consultation February 2024 (opens in a new tab).

What Happens Next

Following the consultation, the results will be reviewed. Where appropriate, we will liaise further with respondents.

A consultation summary will be produced and made available on the Consultation Hub. The Consultation period will end on 9 January 2026.

Reasonable Adjustments and Alternative Formats

The Department is committed to equal opportunities and our aim is to make our documents easy to use and accessible to all.

We will take steps to accommodate any reasonable adjustments and provide such assistance as you may reasonably require to enable you to access or reply to this consultation.

If you would like to receive this document in another format or need assistance with accessing or replying to this consultation, please email OCSIA-Secretariat@gov.im or telephone +44 1624 685557.

Responding to this Consultation and Questions

You can respond to this consultation online by clicking on the 'Online Survey' link.

Alternatively you can download a paper version of this consultation in the 'Related' section below and email it to OCSIA-Secretariat@gov.im or sent it to the below address:

NISB Response OCSIA,
Second Floor 27-29 Prospect Hill,
Douglas, 
Isle of Man,
IM1 1ET