So far in 2023, the United Kingdom has experienced a conspicuous rise in cyber-attacks. During the investigation into these major cases, authorities arrested up to seven teens. This disturbing trend further emphasizes the growing sophistication and prevalence of cyber attacks across all industries, especially those like the healthcare and retail sectors.
Among the largest attacks was on a national blood testing provider. This attack had a day of intentional and devastating impact for the hospitals in all of London. That incident opened the eyes of the public to the real-world consequences of cyber breaches. It interrupted clinical services, and the cyberattack directly caused at least one patient’s death. These results have prompted the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to grade 4% of this year’s breaches as “highly serious.” This new reality is an indication of the alarming rise in the severity of cyber threats.
For the third year in a row, the NCSC announced that the incidents of major incidents have risen an incredible 50%. Almost 50 percent of all incidents reported—204 so far—would be considered “nationally significant.” This designation further illustrates the dangerous reality that these attacks raise extreme risks to our national security and public safety. This model was created by the NCSC and UK law enforcement agencies. It defines “nationally significant” as those in the top three severity categories.
Richard Horne, chief executive of the NCSC, said there had never been a more pressing time for businesses to improve their online defences. He remarked that companies must “have a plan for how they would continue to operate without their IT, (and rebuild that IT at pace), were an attack to get through.” This announcement further highlights the need for resilience as cyber threats continue to ramp up.
This past spring, UK retailers were hit with a barrage of attacks. High-profile targets such as M&S, The Co-op, and Harrods were among those hit and these incidents contributed greatly to the overall increase in such events. Now, more than ever, organizations are being called on to proactively protect their digital assets from these types of attacks.
Cybercrime as motive and activity is dynamic. Over the past three years, teenage hacking gangs have again become a scourge and are believed to be operating out of English-speaking countries. Many of the most prolific organized cyber-crime groups still operate out of Russia or other former Soviet countries, undermining international law enforcement efforts to combat these threats.
Organizations have never been under such pressure as they are today. To mitigate these risks, most people are looking at “resilience engineering” as an innovative and effective line of defense against cyber-attacks. By concentrating on creating resilient systems that can endure or quickly recover from disruptions, companies will be in a much stronger position when the next disruption happens.