UK Public Sector Ransomware Mandate: New Backup Standards Must Protect Organisations to Ensure Recovery

Through frameworks like NHS SBS DWS 2, HybrIT Services is launching a new backup solution built on the latest standards to counter modern cyberthreats. It gives public sector organisations real flexibility in how they protect vital systems and offers a straightforward procurement route that enables rapid adoption.

Organisations face rising pressure from sophisticated cyber threats, with ransomware remaining one of the most damaging risks. Health trusts, councils, schools, and emergency services rely on stable digital systems, and a failed recovery causes immediate disruption. Appointments are postponed, essential services are paused, and public confidence is affected.

The government response to ransomware proposals has made clear that public sector bodies must not pay ransoms and must follow stronger reporting rules to improve transparency and accountability.

The goal is to remove financial incentives for attackers and drive better resilience. With ransom payments no longer allowed, organisations must rely fully on clean and reliable backups, making recovery the only legitimate route to restoring services.

Attackers understand these pressures and often move quietly through networks to locate and disable backups before causing visible damage. If they succeed, the organisation loses its only recovery path, making the backup layer the final and most important defence.

Public sector teams are now adopting designs that use immutable object storage and multiple copies of data to ensure recovery remains possible even in worst-case scenarios. Whatever the technical environment, the priority remains the same. Organisations need a recovery strategy that is resilient, isolated, and centred on immutability.

This is why HybrIT has launched a new backup solution designed to strengthen this final line of defence and help public sector organisations meet the expectations set out in the government ransomware mandate.

HybrIT + Object First: Immutability, service, and resilience

HybrIT and Object First, a global leader in backup solutions, have built a strong partnership that delivers modern, immutable backup solutions for UK public sector organisations. The combined service aligns closely with government expectations for ransomware resilience and rapid recovery.

Object First delivers secure, simple, and powerful backup storage appliances that are absolutely immutable, meaning that no one – not even the most privileged admin or attacker – can modify or delete backup data. When paired with HybrIT managed services the result is a dependable foundation for backup and recovery that protects health, education and local government environments – without unnecessary complexity. HybrIT supports on-site appliances, on-site systems with secondary replication, cloud-first approaches, and sovereign cloud within the UK, plus hybrid and cloud-to-cloud designs. This keeps immutability central without forcing one model. HybrIT also provides round-the-clock support, routine testing, and documentation that fits public sector standards. NHS bodies, councils, and education providers are already seeing strong resilience and reliable recovery.

HybrIT adds experience gained from supporting public sector bodies and major enterprise organisations worldwide, applying this knowledge through government procurement frameworks.

The strong partnership with Veeam reinforces this capability. HybrIT has earned recognised Veeam competencies by delivering and supporting critical backup services for customers with demanding recovery needs.

To find out more about how HybrIT services can protect your organisation, visit www.hybrit.co.uk/protectpublicsector