UK faces 'severe and advancing' cyber attack threat as government issued chilling warning

The UK authorities is nether "severe and rapidly escalating" cyber threat, according to an autarkic watchdog. The National Audit Office (NAO) has issued a stark informing that officials indispensable urgently code this "get connected apical of this astir pernicious threat", arsenic cyber attacks airs "one of the astir superior risks" to the nation.

The NAO's report, released connected Wednesday, is intended to service arsenic a governmental "wake-up call", highlighting sluggish advancement and anemic resilience against cyber threats. Notable caller cyber attacks see a information breach astatine the British Library successful 2023 and a ransomware onslaught past summertime that led to thousands of appointments being cancelled astatine 2 London NHS trusts.

The NAO revealed that implicit fractional of respective departments' cyber information squad roles were unfilled successful 2023/24. The nationalist spending watchdog besides identified astatine slightest 228 outdated IT systems inactive successful usage crossed Whitehall arsenic of March 2024, with officials uncertain astir their vulnerability to attacks.

Between September 2023 and August 2024, the National Cyber Security Centre handled 430 cyber incidents owed to their imaginable severity, with 89 classified arsenic "nationally significant". The study identified menace actors ranging from "state-affiliated" groups funded by overseas governments to financially motivated cyber criminals.

Senior Tory MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, who chairs the nationalist accounts committee, has sounded the alarm connected the UK's cyber vulnerabilities. He said: "We person seen excessively often the devastating interaction of cyber-attacks connected our nationalist services and people's lives. Despite the rapidly evolving cyber threat, government's effect has not kept pace."

He highlighted the systemic issues plaguing the nation's cybersecurity, saying: "Poor coordination crossed government, a persistent shortage of cyber skills, and a dependence connected outdated bequest IT systems are continuing to permission our nationalist services exposed. Today's NAO study indispensable service arsenic a stark wake-up telephone to authorities to get connected apical of this astir pernicious threat."

Gareth Davies, the caput of the National Audit Office (NAO), besides weighed successful with a dire assessment, saying: "The hazard of cyber onslaught is severe, and attacks connected cardinal nationalist services are apt to hap regularly, yet government's enactment to code this has been slow. To debar superior incidents, physique resilience and support the worth for wealth of its operations, authorities indispensable drawback up with the acute cyber menace it faces."

A Government spokesperson told the Mirror: "Many of the NAO's findings reflector the Government's ain findings successful the authorities of integer authorities reappraisal published past week. Since July, we person taken enactment to repair cyber defences neglected by successive governments - introducing caller authorities to springiness america powers to support captious nationalist infrastructure from cyber attacks, delivering 30 caller determination cyber skills projects to fortify the country's integer workforce, and merging integer teams into 1 cardinal Government Digital Service led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

They added: "And past week we went further, announcing plans to upgrade exertion crossed Government, some strengthening our defences against onslaught and transforming nationalist services arsenic portion of the program for change."