Spies foil 723 cyber attacks in a year

CYBER-SPIES have defended Britain from 723 online attacks over the last year – nearly 200 of which were related to coronavirus, it was revealed yesterday.

The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, warned that hackers were intent on exploiting public fear over the pandemic with online scams.

States and criminals tried to hack into Britain’s vaccine research, target hospitals treating Covid-19 patients and exploit the virus to infect computer systems. Figures released by the NCSC showed their experts had defended the UK from an average of 60 attacks per month during a year-long period. The latest annual review said a total of 723 incidents were handled between September 1 last year and August 31 this year – with 194 related to coronavirus.

Cyber-spies helped to protect NHS trusts, the Nightingale hospitals and NHS systems to make sure they were able to function remotely in spite of Covid-19. Revealing the figures, NCSC chiefs warned Britain is facing a soaring number of cyber attacks.

The latest figures saw a 10 per cent rise in the number of incidents and a 33 per cent rise in the number of victims compared to the previous year.

The NCSC also handled more than three times as many incidents involving ransomware – a type of malicious software that prevents victims from accessing their device, or the data stored on it.