Rising Cyber Threats in the UK: A Wake-Up Call for Security

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Britain's cybersecurity chief has raised concerns about an increase in hostile cyber activity in the country, with incidents handled by officials rising by 16% in 2024 compared to the previous year.

Richard Horne, from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), will warn in a speech that the frequency, sophistication, and intensity of cyber threats have escalated. Cyber attackers are increasingly exploiting the nation's reliance on technology to cause disruption and damage.

In 2024, the NCSC's incident management team handled 430 incidents, up from 371 the year before. Of these, 347 involved unauthorized data exfiltration, while 20 were related to ransomware attacks.

The NCSC also issued 542 tailored notifications to organizations affected by cyber incidents, a significant increase from 258 in the previous year.

The agency's annual review highlighted ransomware attacks as a major threat to critical infrastructure sectors, such as energy, transportation, healthcare, and telecommunications.

The review also raised concerns about the potential for hackers to use AI to carry out more advanced cyberattacks. Horne emphasized that the severity of cyber risks is being underestimated and warned that there is no room for complacency regarding state-sponsored threats or cybercriminal activity.

Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.