Whitehall departments are at growing risk of being hacked because anti-cyber attack defences are ‘lower’ than thought, an alarming report has found.
The inquiry by the National Audit Office (NAO) was branded a ‘wake-up call’ for officials to step-up defences against hostile actors.It identified a shortage of cyber skills within departments and risks posed by outdated IT systems. This means the UK is struggling to ‘catch up with the acute cyber threat’ and ‘get on top of this most pernicious threat’, according to the watchdog. More than two hundred antiquated IT systems were also in operation, with officials unable to say how vulnerable these were to attack.
Read more…
Source: MSN News
Related:
- Russia slaps sanctions on UK IT sector
April 10, 2024
Moscow has blacklisted 22 British government officials, members of the IT sector and legal service market as a measure of retaliation, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Those blacklisted particularly include employees of British companies, namely Micro Focus, providing Ukrainian forces with “software and cyber protection services necessary in the process of data collection ...
- UK: Cyber security breaches survey 2024
April 9, 2024
Cyber security breaches and attacks remain a common threat. Half of businesses (50%) and around a third of charities (32%) report having experienced some form of cyber security breach or attack in the last 12 months. This is much higher for medium businesses (70%), large businesses (74%) and high-income charities with £500,000 or more in annual ...
- NHS board warns patients of further data leak after cyber attack
April 9, 2024
An NHS board has warned patients that further personal information could be leaked by cyber criminals who stole medical data in a major cyber attack. A large amount of confidential data was taken from NHS Dumfries and Galloway during a sustained hacking attack. Last week, INC Ransom, an extortion operation, posted a message on its dark ...
- UK: Warning to ‘stay on guard’ after Leicester council cyber-attack
April 5, 2024
People have been told to “stay on their guard” after a cyber-attack on Leicester City Council. Police were alerted after the authority was forced to disable its phone and computer systems on 7 March. While about 25 documents have been posted by the apparent attackers, they claim to have a much larger number. Read more… Source:,BBC News
- UK: Parliamentary staff warned of dangers after suspected sexting honeytrap attacks
April 4, 2024
Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, has held talks with parliamentary staff following suspected sexting honeytrap attacks targeting MPs, staffers and political journalists. At least 12 men working in and around Parliament, including a serving minister and other MPs, have been targeted on WhatsApp in a suspected spear phishing attack. Attackers contacted their victims under the ...
- US and UK announce landmark agreement on artificial intelligence safety
April 2, 2024
The UK and US have signed a landmark deal to work together on testing advanced artificial intelligence (AI). The agreement signed on Monday says both countries will work together on developing “robust” methods for evaluating the safety of AI tools and the systems that underpin them. It is the first bilateral agreement of its kind. Read more… Source: ...