Britain is ‘widely underestimating’ the threat of cyber attacks from Russia and China after a three-fold increase in severe incidents in a year, according to a new report.
Richard Horne, head of GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will warn today of the threat posed by Russia’s online ‘aggression and recklessness’ and ‘highly sophisticated’ Chinese hackers.
In his first major speech, the cyber security chief will highlight the ‘widening gap’ between the threats facing the UK from state-backed hackers and criminals and the defences in place to protect businesses and public services.
It comes after the NCSC’s annual report revealed a three-fold increase in the most serious cyber incidents affecting the UK in 2023-24.
Mr Horne is expected to say: ‘What has struck me more forcefully than anything else since taking the helm at the NCSC is the clearly widening gap between the exposure and threat we face, and the defences that are in place to protect us.
‘And what is equally clear to me is that we all need to increase the pace we are working at to keep ahead of our adversaries…
‘We can see how cyber attacks are increasingly important to Russian actors, along with sabotage threats to physical security.
‘All the while, China remains a highly sophisticated cyber actor, with increasing ambition to project its influence beyond its borders.
Russian president Vladimir Putin. The report describes Russia as a ‘capable, motivated and irresponsible threat actor in cyberspace’ which ‘is routinely seeking to compromise the systems of NATO states’
Chinese president Xi Jinping. Mr Horne will warn that ‘China remains a highly sophisticated cyber actor, with increasing ambition to project its influence beyond its borders’
Richard Horne, head of GCHQ ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) will warn today of the threat posed by Russia’s online ‘aggression and recklessness’ and ‘highly sophisticated’ Chinese hackers
GCHQ in Cheltenham. In his first major speech, the cyber security chief will highlight the ‘widening gap’ between the threats facing the UK from state-backed hackers and criminals
‘And yet, despite all this, we believe the severity of the risk facing the UK is being widely underestimated.’
Speaking at the NCSC’s headquarters in London, he will say: ‘There is no room for complacency about the severity of state-led threats or the volume of the threat posed by cyber criminals.
‘The defence and resilience of critical infrastructure, supply chains, the public sector and our wider economy must improve.’
The report describes Russia as a ‘capable, motivated and irresponsible threat actor in cyberspace’ which ‘is routinely seeking to compromise the systems of NATO states’.
The NCSC received 1,957 reports of cyber attacks in the last year, including 89 ‘nationally significant’ incidents.Of these, 12 were at the top end of the scale and more severe in nature, a three-fold increase on last year.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
