Ransomware Attacks Pose Biggest Threat to UK Organizations

Ransomware attacks against U.K. hospitals and schools remained the biggest cybersecurity threat facing country in 2022, the country’s cybersecurity agency warns, adding that these attacks are likely to surge in the coming months.

See Also: OnDemand | API Protection – The Strategy of Protecting Your APIs

While the United Kingdom witnessed an uptick in various attacks, including low-level tactics such as spear-phishing, ransomware attacks against its critical infrastructure persisted throughout the year, with 18 incidents in the country requiring national-level coordination to mitigate the malware from systems.

These include the attacks on attacks on a supplier to the country’s national emergency helpline, and a water supply company at South Staffordshire, according to the 2022 cyber threat report released by the National Cyber Security Centre.

The NCSC attributes the uptick in ransomware attacks to the proliferation of ransomware-as-a-service groups, which it says are empowering lower-skilled attackers and group affiliates that normally lack the expertise to deploy sophisticated malware. These services have opened multiple attack vectors to a broader range of hackers, NCSC says.

Further, less sophisticated hackers are now equipping themselves with advanced intrusion software such as military-grade spyware and off-the-shelf…