The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has tackled 777 cyber incidents over the past year, including attacks on coronavirus vaccine research, distribution, and supply chains.

The organisation’s annual review revealed that the number of incidents had increased by more than fifty compared to the previous year.

Around 20 per cent of organisations that the NCSC supported were linked to the health sector and vaccines.

The growth in the number of incidents handled is partially reflected in the organisation’s ongoing work to proactively identify threats through the work of its Threat Operations and Assessment teams.

Over the past 12 months, the health sector and vaccine rollout has been a major focus for the NCSC.

According to the NCSC, it protected the NHS, healthcare, and vaccine supplier IT systems from malicious domains "billions of times."

The Active Cyber Defence programme has taken down 2.3 million cyber-enabled commodity campaigns, 442 phishing campaigns using NHS branding, and 80 illegitimate NHS apps hosted and available to download outside of official app stores.

The organisation has also responded to a rise in ransomware attacks.

There were 5.9 million reports of malicious content to the Suspicious Email Reporting Service over the past 12 months – leading to the removal of more than 53,000 scams and 96,500 URLs.

“I’m proud of the way the NCSC has responded to what has been another hugely challenging year for the country as we all continue to navigate our way through the pandemic,” said Lindy Cameron, chief executive, NCSC. “The support and expertise we have provided for stakeholders from government all the way through to the general public during the pandemic has been vital to keeping the country safe online."

Cameron added: “Undoubtedly there are challenges ahead, but the upcoming National Cyber Strategy combined with the continued engagement from businesses and the public provides a solid foundation for us to continue reducing the impact of online threats.”

The NCSC had to deal with the rise in cyber-attacks against a backdrop of responding to a number of significant global incidents, including the attack on the SolarWinds IT management platform and a major ransomware attack on the American software firm Kaseya.

“This year we have seen countless examples of cyber security threats: from state sponsored activity to criminal ransomware attacks," said Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ. "It all serves to remind us that what happens online doesn’t stay online – there are real consequences of virtual activity."

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