United Kingdom’s National Cyber Security Center(NCSC) has disclosed that its security teams have succeeded in blocking around 54 million malicious online attacks last year and have taken down around 120,000 fake websites- all as a part of a ‘Great British Firewall’ program designed to stop cybercriminals targeting the public to steal money and sensitive data.
According to a press release put forward by NCSC, a security division of UK’s Government Communications Head Quarters(GCHQ), its active defense program is said to have yielded 2% reduction in the volume of global phishing and malware attacks hosted in the UK since July 2016.
However, the report did not throw any light on the state-sponsored attacks such as WannaCry Ransomware attack launched by North Korea in association with Russian Intelligence.
Note- Ciaran Martin, the Chief Executive of the NCSC has already issued a press statement last month that his nation’s critical infrastructure was vulnerable to cyber-vandalism from notorious nations such as North Korea and Russia.
The NCSC report says that there was a 16% rise in spoofing and phishing attacks last year where cyber crooks foxed people into handing over personal details via spurious emails. Such emails usually direct the victims to fake websites and in some cases inject the victim’s computer with malware such as ransomware or crypto mining software.
In another story which is related to cyber attacks, a Britisher called Lauri Love is said to have won a battle against extradition to the US for allegedly launching cyber attacks on NASA, FBI, US Army and Department of Defense during the regime of Barack Obama- the 44th US President.
Mr. Lauri Love’s defense lawyer said in the UK court that if in case, his client was sent to the United States for imprisonment, then he would commit suicide as he has developed suicidal tendencies due to Asperger’s syndrome.
Lauri Love, who is a 32-year-old Electrical engineering student, said that he would devote the rest of his life exploring the ins & outs of cyber security and will help the world combat virus such as Wannacry that disrupted the digital services of NHS UK last year.
More details on Lauri Love and his case will be updated shortly!
