CybExer has won the Critical National Infrastructure Award at The National Cyber Awards 2026, recognising its work to strengthen cyber defence across UK and allied critical national infrastructure with NATO-grade capabilities.
Announcing CybExer as the winner, The National Cyber Awards highlighted the company’s technical innovation, strategic vision and contribution to allied resilience:
“By delivering sophisticated cyber range environments built to strict UK and NATO standards, CybExer brings exceptional technical innovation and strategic vision to national security. Their complex orchestration and co-delivery model play a vital role in strengthening defence readiness and infrastructure preparedness across allied nations worldwide.”
The category, supported by Palo Alto Networks, recognises exceptional contributions to the protection and resilience of the UK's critical national infrastructure. CybExer's winning entry, "NATO-grade Cyber Defence for UK and Allied Critical National Infrastructure", highlighted the company's work helping operators prepare for cyber threats before critical services are placed at risk. This includes building controlled digital-twin environments representing operational systems, where teams can test their response to cyber threats without putting live services at risk. The approach enables organisations to test, learn and repeat as systems and threats evolve, supporting continuous readiness rather than one-off exercises.
Running since 2019, the awards are free to enter and assessed by an independent panel of more than 40 judges drawn from industry, government and law enforcement, including the National Crime Agency, BAE Systems, Microsoft and NHS England. Winners were announced at The Royal Lancaster, London, on 28 September.
CybExer was also named a finalist in two further 2026 categories: the Innovation Award, for Integrated Scoring and Awareness (ISA), which provides the scoring backbone for some of the world's largest cyber exercises; and the Cyber Awareness Award, for "From Schoolroom to NATO - Building Cyber Defenders at Every Stage".
