British Authorities To Implement Security Scans Amid Rising Cyber Attacks

According to the British government, there were more than 60 “nationally important” attacks on IT in the past year alone. Therefore, the decision was made to actively search for security gaps in the country and to ensure more awareness of security aspects.

The National Cyber ​​Security Centre, or NCSC for short, is now scanning all internet-enabled devices hosted in the UK for vulnerabilities. This was announced by the government agency responsible for the country’s cyber security.

The goal is to both assess vulnerability to cyberattacks and help owners of Internet-connected systems better understand their security posture.

One looks for known vulnerabilities

‘These activities cover all systems with internet access hosted in the UK and vulnerabilities that are widespread or particularly important due to their high impact,’ the agency said.

According to the news channel Sky, the measure was planned as a permanent facility for more security after several large-scale hacker attacks in 2021. “The threat of ransomware has always been present – and remains a major challenge for businesses and public services in the UK,” the agency said. Now one would like to actively approach companies that only insufficiently protect their systems despite known security gaps and existing updates.

The queries are designed to collect only as much information as necessary to check whether the scanned object is affected by a vulnerability. Known lists of security gaps from large software companies are taken as well as data from our own surveys.

Because some vulnerabilities may result in the agency collecting sensitive or personally identifiable information with its scans, the NCSC says it will “take steps to remove the data and prevent it from being captured again in the future.”