Hostile nation states are ramping up cyber attacks on UK, warns GCHQ

Published on: May 7, 2025

By RICHARD MARSDEN

Updated: 22:08 BST, 7 May 2025

Hackers have ramped up attacks on Britain with incidents doubling in recent months, the UK’s cyber security agency said.

‘Hostile nation states’ led by China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are believed to be at the forefront of malign online activity, along with groups using ransomware to extort money.

In the wake of attacks on M&S, the Co-op and Harrods, Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre said there was a ‘diverse and dramatic’ threat.

‘We’ve managed more than 200 incidents since September. That includes twice as many nationally significant incidents as the same period a year ago,’ Horne told NCSC’s national conference in Manchester.

In the year to last September, the NCSC managed 430 incidents. ‘Almost all organisations run on IT that isn’t their own. The concept of control is completely false,’ Horne added.

Cabinet Office minister Pat McFadden told the conference attacks were ‘serious organised crime’. It came as a survey found attacks may cost UK businesses as much as £64billion a year.

Threat: Cyber attacks may cost UK businesses as much as £64bn a year – with 53% of firms having suffered at least one incident in the last three years

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Hostile nation states are ramping up cyber attacks on UK, warns GCHQ

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Hostile nation states are ramping up cyber attacks on UK, warns GCHQ