Fifteen times more online scams stamped out during pandemic

The fourth annual report on the NCSC’s Active Cyber Defence programme has shown that cyber security experts in the UK have overseen a massive fifteen-fold increase in the number of scams removed from the internet.

NCSC disclosed it had taken down more scams in the last year than in the previous three years combined as the organisation moved to further protect the UK public and critical services such as the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic.

The report was released ahead of the NCSC’s annual CYBERUK gathering, which this year for the first time will be hosted entirely online, enabling wider participation than ever before. The two-day event, which begins on 11 May, will contain a special focus on how the NCSC and cyber security industry has responded to the pandemic.

The NCSC response included the introduction of the hugely successful Suspicious Email Reporting Service, a new feature of the ACD programme launched in April 2020 which received nearly four million reports of suspect emails from members of the public last year alone.

One particular area of focus for ACD last year was protecting the NHS, and the report detailed efforts to monitor for attacks that sought to harvest NHS credentials and potentially compromise critical systems. In 2020 ACD detected 122 phishing campaigns using NHS branding, compared to 36 in 2019.

The organisation also worked with allies to call out hostile state activity and last year exposed Russian attacks on coronavirus vaccine development.

Lindy Cameron, NCSC CEO, said: “As the cyber security community prepares to gather for CYBERUK, the ACD report offers a helpful insight into just some of the ways the NCSC has adapted to protect the UK during the pandemic.

“Whether it has been protecting vital research into the vaccine or helping people work from home securely, the NCSC has worked with partners to protect the digital homeland during this unprecedented period. I look forward to hearing from thought-leaders at CYBERUK as we reflect on this period and look ahead to building a resilient and prosperous digital UK after the pandemic.”