UK hit by 796 cyber attacks in 457 days

GCHQ reveals true scale of threat – and worse is to come

GcHQ has warned businesses to bolster their digital defences after detecting nearly 800 serious hacking attacks on UK organisations.

The National cyber security centre (Ncsc), part of the Government’s intelligence and security organisation, branded 2017 ‘the year of ransomware attacks and massive data breaches’ and predicted they would only increase in frequency.

It said firms and their employees were being targeted with new and sophisticated methods, designed to trick them into handing over sensitive information.

And hackers were targeting weakly-defended contractors in a bid to gain access to their clients.

‘The last year has seen no deceleration in the tempo and volume of cyber incidents, as attackers devise new ways to harm businesses and citizens around the globe,’ Ncsc chief ciaran Martin said. ‘our aim is to make the UK an unattractive target to cyber criminals and certain nation states by increasing their risk.’

Major cyber attacks last year included the Wannacry ransomware assault which wiped out computer systems in several NHs trusts, socalled Petya malware which cost UK multinationals Reckitt Benckiser and WPP millions and the data breach at equifax that compromised personal information about 700,000 British customers. several earlier breaches at major companies also emerged.

Taxi app firm Uber was revealed to have initially covered up the loss of data of 57m users in october 2016, while yahoo revealed an attack in 2013 had affected some 3bn user accounts – three times its original estimate.

From october 2016, when it first became operational, to the end of last year, the Ncsc detected 34 cyber attacks classed as ‘significant’– those that require a major government response. It detected a further 762 ‘less serious’ incidents that typically affected just a single organisation.

‘2018 will bring more of these attacks,’ a report yesterday said.

The Ncsc said cyber attacks were costing firms of all sizes money, including damage caused by the breach itself, to the cost of remedies, reputational harm and the resulting share price falls.

Durex condoms maker Reckitt Benckiser said in June last year the Petya malware attack cost it £100m and wiped out some 15,000 laptops at the company in just 45 minutes. Petya affected a number of multinationals using Microsoft’s Windows software, including advertising firm WPP, which lost £15m, and Us food giant Mondelez.

Wannacry locked computers and demanded payment to release them and spread to a third of NHs trusts. The chaos led to the cancellation of almost 7,000 patient appointments and disrupted emergency care.

The Government has since said it is ‘ highly likely’ North Korea was behind the attack.

The Ncsc’s report said: ‘ It is clear that even if an organisation has excellent cyber security, there can be no guarantee that the same standards are applied by contractors and third-party suppliers.

‘Attackers will target the most vulnerable part of a supply chain.’