Finance
UK facing increased hostile activity in cyberspace, security official warns
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 3, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
Global Banking & Finance Review®
Company
Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on December 3, 2024
2 min readLast updated: January 28, 2026
UK cyber incidents rose 16% in 2024, with ransomware posing a major threat. NCSC warns of underestimated risks and AI exploitation.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's cyber security chief warned on Tuesday of a rise in hostile activity in the country's cyberspace, with the number of incidents handled by officials rising by 16% in 2024 compared to a year ago.
"Hostile activity in UK cyberspace has increased in frequency, sophistication and intensity," the National Cyber Security Centre's Richard Horne will say in a speech later on Tuesday, according to a statement released by the government agency.
"Actors are increasingly using our technology dependence against us, seeking to cause maximum disruption and destruction."
The incident management team at the NCSC handled 430 incidents in 2024, compared to 371 the previous year, the agency said in the statement.
Of those, 347 involved some level of data exfiltration - the intentional, unauthorised, covert transfer of data from a computer or other device - while 20 involved ransomware, said the NCSC, which is part of Britain's GCHQ spy agency.
The team issued 542 bespoke notifications informing organisations of a cyber incident impacting them and providing advice on mitigation, more than double the 258 notifications issued last year.
In its annual review published alongside the statement, the NCSC said ransomware attacks posed "the most immediate and disruptive" threat to critical infrastructure like energy, water, transportation, health and telecommunications.
The review also warned of the potential of hackers to exploit AI to create more advanced cyber attacks.
"We believe the severity of the risk facing the UK is being widely underestimated," Horne is set to say in his speech.
"There is no room for complacency about the severity of state-led threats or the volume of the threat posed by cyber criminals."
(Reporting by Muvija M, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
The article discusses the rise in hostile cyber activities in the UK and the challenges posed by ransomware and AI threats.
Ransomware attacks and the potential exploitation of AI for cyber attacks are highlighted as major threats.
The NCSC handled 430 cyber incidents in 2024, an increase from the previous year.
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