At last! Some good IT security news for business as National Cyber Security Centre officially opens

“…safest place in the world to live and work online…”

February 14 saw the official opening of the UKs National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), by Her Majesty The Queen. The National Cyber Security Centre is part of GCHQ, the intelligence gathering arm of the UKs security services.

The Government has set out some big and bold objectives for the agency. The NCSC is tasked with using the best data, skills and capabilities to make the UK the safest place in the world to live and work online.

This is very good news for the UK business community which has had to endure a prolonged period of negative messaging in the shape of warnings about an enhanced threat level and the increasing superiority of cybercriminal capability.

Britain to enter ‘new era of online opportunity’ – bring it on!

In his speech to mark the opening, NCSC CEO Ciaran Martin said:

“Our job is to make the UK the safest place to live and do business online.

“We will help secure our critical services, lead the response to the most serious incidents and improve the underlying security of the Internet through technological improvement and advice to citizens and organisations.

“We want to be at the centre of a new era of online opportunity and help people to feel as safe as possible when using technology to its fullest potential.”

Headquartered close to Westminster in Victoria, the organisation will use the new London office as its operational nerve centre and maintain a presence in Cheltenham at GCHQ’s main site. The operations at Victoria will focus on defensive work.

However, in a strand that is likely to hearten the mood of many that have fallen victim or who have been engaged in what is perceived by many to be the losing battle against cybercrime, the NCSC will be able to call on offensive capabilities developed by GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence. We say, bring it on!

Advice and expertise to improve your firm’s IT security from Paralogic

The NCSC and it’s bold mission is to be applauded, but it is playing catch-up. For the foreseeable future, the biggest danger to defending a cyber-attack is complacency.
Three cornerstones of protecting your firm from cybercrime are for you, your IT team, core business staff and colleagues to:

• Patch software by regular updating

• Follow expert security advice

• Exercise best practice when using the internet and email

To find out more about how to improve IT security and defend the threat from cybercrime, simply get in touch today.

For key practices and tools for avoiding ransomware attack click here to see our blog ‘Ransomware attack: Prevention is better than cure’.

Click here to visit the National Cyber Security Centre on the web.