UK citizens and businesses helped to remove 235,000 malicious URLs and actively reported 7.1 million suspicious websites and emails in 2022, the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) revealed on Thursday.
According to a report on the NCSC’s Active Cyber Defence (ACD) program, on average, it took the NCSC six hours to take down harmful content last year.
The report contains data about the most prominent cyber threats and attack vectors in 2022. The NCSC said phishing URLs are still the most prominent type of attack that the country faces. On a positive note, phishing campaigns targeting individuals and businesses in the UK declined last year.
Furthermore, the UK saw a decline in the total number of takedowns of malicious websites. The NCSC attributes this to the reduction in extortion mail servers and cryptocurrency investment scams. However, the latter remains a huge threat.
“Despite the fall in takedowns, cryptocurrency investment scams continue to be a high-volume attack type,” the report states. “These attacks usually use celebrities or well-known brands to appear legitimate.”
Nearly 20,000 Suspicious URLs and Sites Reported Daily
The NCSC began the Active Cyber Defence (ACD) program in 2017. In April 2020, it added the Suspicious Email Reporting Service (SERS) to its lineup of services. Between January and December 2022, UK citizens and businesses reported an average of 19,500 suspicious URLs daily.
“This is an increase of over 33% on the number of reports received in 2021,” the report states.
SERS is a key example of the ACD’s “whole-of-society” approach to cybersecurity. Jonathon Ellison, NCSC Director for National Resilience and Future Technology, lauded the role UK businesses played in reducing cyber risks last year.
“As this latest report shows, cyber security is not the sole preserve of tech specialists: businesses are increasingly alive to and eager to engage with the cyber risks they face, signing up in swathes to make the most of NCSC data and expertise,” Ellison said.
“Small businesses have a key role to play in making it safer to work and live online, which is why we’re making it even easier for them to shore up their defences with accessible, free tools and so on, to manage these effortlessly via our integrated MyNCSC platform,” he added.
Other Key Findings in the Report
The report highlighted several other promising trends with the ACD’s services. The Protective Domain Name Service (PDNS), which prevents users from accessing known malicious domains, witnessed a 24% increase in signups. It also blocked over five million requests for domains associated with ransomware.
“Conti Ransomware was the most blocked ransomware by this measure, which is unsurprising as the group behind this malware is believed to be one of the largest ransomware actors,” the report stated. Last year, persistent attacks from the Consti ransomware on Costa Rica forced its government to declare a national emergency.
The ACD’s Exercise in a Box (EiaB) is a free toolkit that lets organizations test their IT network’s response to cyber threats in a controlled environment. Total sign-ups to the tool increased by 40% over the previous year.
“The largest increase in signups was from large businesses, up 61%. Signups by cyber security professionals were up 50%, those from the public sector were up 37%, and small organization signups were up 36%,” the NCSC said.
Other NCSC services, such as Early Warning, Mail Check, and Web Check, also recorded a significant jump in new users.
About the Active Cyber Defence Programme
The NCSC has said the Active Cyber Defence (ACD) program is one of its most successful initiatives to fight online threats and prevent harm.
The official NCSC website states that the program aims to “Protect the majority of people in the UK from the majority of the harm caused by the majority of the cyber attacks the majority of the time.”
The ACD’s core services include Takedown, Protective DNS, Early Warning, and Exercise in a Box. Many of the ACD’s services, such as Early Warning, SERS, and the Vulnerability Disclosure Toolkit, are completely free.
The NCSC says these services are designed to assist even users that do not have “specialist knowledge or a dedicated security function at work.” Last year, 39% more businesses signed up for the ACD’s free services.
