NCSC has released its cybercrime review today and the data has revealed that Britain’s cyber security agency had to tackle a record 777 cyber incidents over the past year, with coronavirus vaccine research a prime target for attack.

In response to the news, Gary Robinson, CSO at Uleska has stated: “This data highlights that the UK is under increased attack from foreign states and that the cyber defences of our country need to be a number one priority. It is clear that other countries are putting significant resources into offensive and defensive cyber techniques, the UK must do the same.

“The NCSC states that the health sector has been an urgent priority in the last year, and protections were needed against disruption to the UK’s pandemic response.  This is a timely reminder of how much we depend on a working computer to carry out our daily lives. We live in a world where cyber criminals not only are a threat against our private data and ability to shop online, but also our ability to protect our health and wellbeing, and, in the case of disruptions to the pandemic response, could significantly damage our recovery and economy.

“Let’s imagine what would have happened if something crucial like the pandemic response was severely disrupted by cyber criminals.  How would we measure the increase in deaths, the increase in interest rates due to a prolonged hit to the economy, and the increase in business and job losses, all because of a lack of cyber hygiene and investment?  Generally, cyber security is still underfunded in the public and private sector, and we need to wake up and protect the society we’ve created for ourselves.

“In the last year, we have seen state sponsored attacks take down critical national infrastructure in the US and it won’t be long before we see incidents hitting UK infrastructure as well. Protecting our country in cyberspace is a job the government cannot do alone, and recent initiatives like the call for supply chain security experts demonstrates the government is also recognising this. To bolster the country’s defences, the government needs to rely on external expertise as this is the only way to future-proof our economy and national infrastructure against attacks.”

To see the full review, click here.