The agency, which is a part of GCHQ, released its annual report showing that it dealt with an unprecedented 777 incidents over the last 12 months – up from 723 the previous year – with around 20 per cent of organisations supported linked to the health sector and vaccines.
The health sector and in particular the vaccine rollout was a major focus for the NCSC, as it was forced to tackle threats levied against the NHS, healthcare, and vaccine supplier IT systems from malicious domains billions of times.
Over the past 12 months, the NCSC also responded to a rise in ransomware attacks. A range of services have been provided to businesses over the past year to help protect them from ransomware including the Early Warning Service alerting organisations to emerging threats and cyber-security advice for those working in education.
Last year, cyber criminals took advantage of the surge in home working and people moving to online services due to the pandemic. The...