National Cyber Security Centre hailed a success

The National Cyber Security Centre, launched to help with safeguarding Britain’s digital frontiers, has already proved to be a great success.

Cyber Security has rarely been out of the spotlight over the past couple of years, following a string of high-profile security breaches.

In February this year a new government body, the National Cyber Security Centre, was launched to help with safeguarding Britain’s digital frontiers. And it seems that it’s already had a major success. Having joined forces with several private organisations, the organisation has identified a group of hackers targeting companies on a global scale.

The operation, codenamed Cloud Hopper, was spearheaded by the National Cyber Security Centre, PwC, the professional-service firm, BAE Systems, the security company, and other members of the security community. Together, they aimed to uncover and disrupt the attacks of a group of cybercriminals, which is being referred to as APT10. The group’s activities were first noticed in late 2016 when it seemingly scaled up its campaign. However, it’s believed that ATP10 could have been active as early as 2014.

The analysts believe the group originates from China and that it’s targeted IT outsourcing companies by employing spear phishing emails containing custom-made malware. It’s used those companies as a stepping stone to gain access to their clients’ intellectual property and other sensitive data. It’s believed that companies across the world, including the UK, France and the US, have all been targeted for the cross-border campaign.

Magesh Panchanathan of Cloud 9 Hosts said

“The global campaign by ATP10 highlights the need for enhanced collaboration between public and private sector organisations with the in depth technical skills to join forces to combat this type of threat.”

It seems as if Britain has already begun ramping up its defences. In November last year, the government launched its cybersecurity strategy for businesses, which included plans for huge investments in startups operating in the sector. And in January 2017 GCHQ, the intelligence agency, was one of the organisations behind a new cybersecurity accelerator. Here’s hoping these efforts will provide enough protection against future threats.