UK firms hacked more than ever in 2017 (and it’ll get worse)

Hackers launched more attacks against UK companies and organisations in 2017 than ever before, and it’s going to get a lot worse, intelligence authorities have said.

A report from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of GCHQ, and the National Crime Agency said the UK was hit by 796 cyberattacks between October 2016 (when the Centre was set up) and the end of 2017. “2018 will bring more of these attacks,” it predicted.

Of these attacks, 34 were “significant” enough to require a major government response. Some of the most serious were ransomware attacks, such as the Wannacry hack (see screenshot) in May that took down many NHS computers, causing nearly 7,000 appointments to be cancelled.

The report said the largest attacks are likely to be linked to rogue states, such as North Korea, which the Government has accused of launching Wannacry.

Other severe attacks led to hackers stealing masses of personal data. In September, 700,000 UK customers of the US credit-rating agency Equifax had their details stolen, while Yahoo admitted last year that its 2013 data breach affected all three billion accounts.

Emerging threats stated in the report include the theft of data from online storage services, which the NCSC claims businesses place “too much faith” in.

It also warned businesses to check the security used by companies that provide online services, saying attackers “will target the most vulnerable part of a supply chain to reach their intended victim”.

NCSC’S chief Ciaran Martin said attackers continue to “devise new ways to harm businesses and citizens around the globe”.

Nevertheless, he remains confident in the Centre’s ability to “make the UK an unattractive target for cybercriminals and certain nation states by increasing their risk and reducing their return on investment”.