Britain sees 50% spike in major cyber attacks as top firms targeted

Britain saw a significant increase in major cyber attacks by criminals and hostile states over 2024, the country’s cyber-security agency said, following a spate of high-profile incidents targeting companies from Jaguar Land Rover to the Marks and Spencer Group.

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Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), part of its signals intelligence agency GCHQ, said it had dealt with 429 cyber incidents in the 12 months to the end of August. It categorised nearly half of those as “nationally significant”, meaning it was responding to four such incidents a week.

Some 18 of the cases were classed by the NCSC as “highly significant”, having a “serious impact” on central government, essential services or the economy. It said that represented a 50 per cent increase over the previous year.