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The UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) revealed that it had thwarted more than 600 cyberattacks in the last year in the country.
According to figures contained in its third annual review, the government-owned cybersecurity agency handled a total of 658 cyber incidents in 2018. This takes the total number of cyber incidents dealt with by the agency to nearly 1,800 since its creation in 2016.
The NCSC disclosed that a substantial number of cyberattacks continue to emerge from hostile nation-states.
UK Minister for the Cabinet Office Oliver Dowden said: “We’ve made great progress on making the UK safer since launching our world-leading £1.9 billion cybersecurity strategy in 2015. Establishing the NCSC was a key part of this and has played a central role in tackling online threats posed by criminals, hacktivists and hostile nation-states.”
The agency, which comes under the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), was formed to help the most critical organisations in the country, the wider public sector, industry, SMEs and also the general public from cyber attacks.
One of the major achievements of the agency in 2018 was the execution of an operation to prevent hundreds of thousands of people from losing their money to credit card fraud.
Through Operation Haulster, NCSC automatically flagged fraudulent intention against one-million-plus stolen credit cards, thereby preventing a major financial loss.
The agency had also created a machine last year to enhance the efficiency of information sharing around threats to the country, which helped in speeding up the process by a significant extent.
The NCSC said that it had generated 154 threat assessments for a variety of sectors in the past year. By teaming up with sector and law enforcement partners, it had delivered cybersecurity awareness and training sessions to more than 2,700 charities in 2018.
It had also helped nearly 3,000 small businesses across the country to carry out simulated cyber exercises for themselves.
NCSC chief executive Ciaran Martin said: “This review gives a real insight into the breadth of outstanding work done by the NCSC and underlines why we are a world leader in cybersecurity.
“From handling more than 600 incidents – many from hostile nation-states – to equipping the public with the tools they need to stay safe online, we are employing our expertise on a number of fronts.”
source governmentcomputing
Industry: Cyber Security