Via the recent King’s speech, the government has announced a new Cyber Security and Resilience Bill was unveiled, which is planned to boost the security of the NHS and UK essential services after the health service suffered various cyber attacks in which more than 400GB of sensitive patient data was leaked. In response to the news, Ryan McConechy, CTO of Barrier Networks, notes the importance of strengthening defences and educating organisations to the risks.

Barrier Networks‘ McConechy comments: “In the last few months, the UK has experienced an increase in attacks, suspected to be executed by Chinese and Russian threat actors, so it is essential the new government prioritises our defences against these actors.

These attacks are often executed for cyber espionage, or to cause harm to the UK, and the perpetrators rarely face any real consequences, even when they are identified.

This ultimately means the assaults will continue, so UK organisations can’t ignore the threat.

But it is up to the government to spearhead this activity, promoting the importance of defences and educating all organisations.

Nation state actors may have advanced cyber skills at their disposal, but recent events have once again highlighted they still generally rely on the basics to infiltrate organisations, such as phishing employees, exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities or taking advantage of outdated technology.

When it comes to defences, organisations must prioritise security around not just these attack vectors, but also around detection of a successful breach.”

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