NCSC Has Seen More Than 1,000 Attacks In The Past Year

Following the news this morning that more than 1,000 incidents were reported to the National Cyber Security Centre in its first year of operation, IT security experts commented below.

Jamie Stone, Vice President, EMEA at ‎Anomali:

“While the NCSC and GCHQ are doing a great job so far, the reality is that the number of threats is likely to be much larger. In our recent survey with Ponemon Institute, we found just 35% of UK organisations share intelligence with government associations. More needs to be done to promote the sharing of intelligence, as it improves visibility for better data analysis and delivers stronger defences optimised against observed and perceived threats. Pushing out cyber attack details quickly could mean the difference between someone else getting breached and being able to stop it quickly. As well as faster answers to incident response challenges thanks to the additional resources, adding skills and expertise to the event,” commented Jamie Stone, Vice President, EMEA at ‎Anomali.

Raj Samani, Chief Scientist and Fellow at McAfee:

“The National Cyber Security Centre’s annual review reveals an escalation in cyber attacks – and this should be taken seriously. Cyberattacks are the future of crime. Criminals are coming up with varied, sophisticated attacks to weaponise data and systems – and it takes inspired, innovative cybersecurity professionals to proactively find emerging threats and beat criminals at their own game.

“It’s a fast paced industry so ensuring the UK retains its place as a key – and secure – market for digital business requires both close collaboration between law enforcement and the cyber security sector and an ongoing focus on cyber at a national level. Just protecting data and correcting systems after an attack is no longer sufficient. Businesses must be prepared to proactively seek out and detect any threats to keep cyber criminals at bay and data secure.”

Rodney Joffe, SVP and Fellow at Neustar:

“As this latest data has revealed, the sheer volume, complexity and severity of cyber-attacks is constantly on the rise. From ransomware to DDoS and web application attacks, over half of the attacks reported to the NCSC posed a ‘significant threat’, it is critical that organisations are working to secure their infrastructure and valuable data.

“To achieve thSecurity Expertsis requires a clear understanding of what data needs safeguarding, and the levels of security that need to be put in place. Next, organisations need to ensure the appropriate controls are in place for threat vulnerability and patch management, while making certain that important data is identified and encrypted. Realistically, this can only be achieved by taking a holistic view of the threat landscape, rather than tackling each of these in isolation. By developing this more cohesive security strategy, organisations can hone in on their more vulnerable data, processes and models, protecting their critical information from getting into the wrong hands.”