Checklist Summary

Responding to Elevated Cyber Retaliation Risks Linked to the 2026 Conflict in the Middle East

The cyber threat environment has changed. With Iranian-linked proxy groups and hacktivist collectives actively targeting organisations across the UK, GCC, and allied nations, the question is no longer whether your organisation could be targeted — it's whether you're ready if it is. This checklist gives boards, CISOs, compliance leaders, and operational risk teams a clear, structured set of actions to take right now, mapped across seven critical areas of cyber preparedness.

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What's inside

• A core cyber hygiene audit covering system patching, access controls, MFA implementation, dormant account removal, and the hardening of internet-facing and remote administration assets
• An incident response and business continuity review framework — including offline backup validation, alternative compute environments, and stress testing for disruptions to power, communications, and cloud hosting
• A DDoS defence section covering service mapping, provider diversification, graceful degradation planning, and how to build a response runbook that accounts for rapidly evolving attack tactics
• Practical phishing and social engineering mitigation steps, with specific guidance for high-risk individuals in senior, legal, finance, and external-facing roles
• A high-value asset protection checklist covering financial systems, payment channels, privileged identities, vendor exposure, and how to monitor for disinformation and fabricated breach claims
• Governance and leadership actions — including board-level escalation, senior working group formation, and registration with national cyber alerting services such as the NCSC Early Warning Service