The UK is underestimating the severity of the online threat it faces from hostile states and criminal gangs, the country\u2019s cybersecurity chief will warn.<\/p>\n
Richard Horne, the head of GCHQ\u2019s National Cyber Security Centre, will cite a trebling of \u201csevere\u201d incidents amid Russian \u201caggression and recklessness\u201d and China\u2019s \u201chighly sophisticated\u201d digital operations.<\/p>\n
In his first major speech as the agency\u2019s chief, Horne will say on Tuesday that hostile activity in UK cyberspace has increased in \u201cfrequency, sophistication and intensity\u201d from enemies who want to cause maximum disruption and destruction.<\/p>\n
In a speech at the NCSC\u2019s London HQ, Horne, who took on the role in October, will point to \u201cthe aggression and recklessness of cyber-activity we see coming from Russia\u201d and how \u201cChina remains a highly sophisticated cyber-actor, with increasing ambition to project its influence beyond its borders\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yet, despite all this, we believe the severity of the risk facing the UK is being widely underestimated,\u201d he will say.<\/p>\n
One expert described the comments as a \u201cklaxon\u201d call to companies and public sector organisations to wake up to the scale of the cyber-threat facing the UK.<\/p>\n
Horne will make the warning as the NCSC reveals a significant increase in serious cyberincidents over the past 12 months. Its annual review shows that the agency had responded to 430 incidents requiring its support between 1 September 2023 and 31 August 2024, compared with 371 in the previous 12 months.<\/p>\n
It says that 12 of those attacks were at the \u201ctop end of the scale\u201d and were \u201cmore severe in nature\u201d \u2013 a trebling from the previous year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no room for complacency about the severity of state-led threats or the volume of the threat posed by cybercriminals,\u201d Horne will say. \u201cThe defence and resilience of critical infrastructure, supply chains, the public sector and our wider economy must improve.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week the Cabinet Office minister, Pat McFadden, warned that Russia \u201ccan turn the lights off for millions of people\u201d with a cyber-attack.<\/p>\n