NCSC “prevented thousands of attacks” in first year

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has marked its first anniversary with the publication of a new report highlighting the work done by the organisation in its first 12 months.

Since becoming operational in October 2016, the centre’s cyber experts have received 1,131 incident reports, 590 of which were classed as ‘significant’.

It says that tens of millions of attacks were blocked every week by NCSC’s Active Cyber Defence programme, which has also reduced the average time a phishing site is online from 27 hours to one hour.

Meanwhile, more than 200,000 protective items were produced for Armed Forces communications. Additionally, the next generation of cyber experts was encouraged as 1,000 young people took advantage of free CyberFirst courses, with a further 8,000 females entering the CyberFirst Girls contest.

It also led the UK response to the global WannaCry incident, which affected 47 NHS trusts, by providing vital assistance and reassurance to organisations affected.

Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, said the NCSC has been vital to ensuring the UK stays one step ahead of the rapidly evolving threats facing the UK.

Ciaran Martin, chief executive of the NCSC, commented: “We’re incredibly proud of what we have achieved in our first year at the National Cyber Security Centre but the threat remains very real and growing.

“Further attacks will happen and there is much more for us to do to make the UK the safest place in the world to live and do business online.”