The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is an organisation of the

United Kingdom Government His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

that provides advice and support for the

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

and

private sector The private sector is the part of the economy which is owned by private groups, usually as a means of establishment for profit or non profit, rather than being owned by the government. Employment The private sector employs most of the workfo ...

in how to avoid

computer security Computer security (also cybersecurity, digital security, or information technology (IT) security) is a subdiscipline within the field of information security. It consists of the protection of computer software, systems and computer network, n ...

threats. It is the UK's National technical authority for cyber threats and

Information Assurance Information assurance (IA) is the practice of assuring information and managing risks related to the use, processing, storage, and data transmission, transmission of information. Information assurance includes protection of the data integrity, inte ...

. Based in

Victoria, London Victoria is an area of Westminster, Central London in the City of Westminster. It is named after Victoria Station, which is a major transport hub. The station was named after the nearby Victoria Street, opened 1851. The name is used to descr ...

, it became operational in October 2016, and its parent organisation is

GCHQ Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) is an intelligence and security organisation responsible for providing signals intelligence (SIGINT) and information assurance (IA) to the government and armed forces of the United Kingdom. Primar ...

History

The NCSC absorbed and replaced CESG (the

information security Information security is the practice of protecting information by mitigating information risks. It is part of information risk management. It typically involves preventing or reducing the probability of unauthorized or inappropriate access to data ...

arm of GCHQ), the Centre for Cyber Assessment (CCA), Computer Emergency Response Team UK (CERT UK) and the cyber-related responsibilities of the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI). It built on earlier efforts of these organisations and the

Cabinet Office The Cabinet Office is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for supporting the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, prime minister and Cabinet ...

to provide guidance on

to the UK's wider private sector, such as the "10 Steps" guidance released in January 2015. In pre-launch announcements, the UK government stated that the NCSC would first work with the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the Kingdom of England, English Government's banker and debt manager, and still one ...

to advise financial institutions on how to bolster online defences. The centre was first announced in November 2015 by the

Chancellor of the Exchequer The chancellor of the exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and the head of HM Treasury, His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, t ...

George Osborne George Gideon Oliver Osborne (born 23 May 1971) is a British retired politician and newspaper editor who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2010 to 2016 and as First Secretary of State from 2015 to 2016 in the Cameron government. A ...

. The then Director General Cyber of GCHQ, Ciaran Martin, led the new centre, and GCHQ's Technical Director of Cyber Security, Dr Ian Levy, assumed the same role at the NCSC. A detailed paper on the creation of the NCSC, including a description of its structure and future challenges, written by the then Director of GCHQ,

Robert Hannigan Robert Peter Hannigan CMG (born 1965) is a cybersecurity specialist who has been Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, since 2021. He was a senior British civil servant who previously served as the director of the signals intelligence and crypto ...

, who is widely credited with establishing the centre, was published by the

Royal United Services Institute The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi) is a defence and security think tank with its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1831 by the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley ...

in February 2019. The centre was dedicated by the Queen on 14 February 2017.

Philip Hammond Philip Hammond, Baron Hammond of Runnymede (born 4 December 1955) is a British politician and life peer who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2016 to 2019 and Foreign Secretary from 2014 to 2016, having previously served as Defence ...

, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced an investment of £1.9 billion and an initiative to embed 100 people from industry into the NCSC on secondment. In April 2016, the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

announced that a Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) "to protect the MOD's cyberspace from malicious actors" with a budget of over £40 million will contribute to this initiative. It is located at MoD Corsham. In October 2017, technical director Ian Levy was targeted by email prankster James Linton with a fake industry event; however, Levy correctly identified the unexpected headers and worked with him to put out a security blog about the incident. On 1 October 2020 Lindy Cameron, formerly director-general of the

Northern Ireland Office The Northern Ireland Office (NIO; , Ulster-Scots: ''Norlin Airlann Oaffis'') is a ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for handling Northern Ireland affairs. The NIO is led by the Secretary of S ...

, took over from Ciaran Martin as CEO. In December 2023, it was announced that Lindy Cameron would step down in early 2024. Felicity Oswald acted as interim CEO until the appointment of Richard Horne in October 2024. In July 2024, the Centre in collaboration with international partners, revealed a North Korean state-sponsored cyber espionage campaign, aimed at stealing military and nuclear secrets. The advisory highlighted the actions of the Andariel group, linked to the DPRK's Reconnaissance General Bureau's 3rd Bureau, targeting critical infrastructure globally to steal sensitive information and intellectual property. NCSC's Director of Operations, Paul Chichester, emphasized the significance of protecting such data. Andariel's focus was primarily on sectors like defense, aerospace, nuclear, and engineering, with some attention to the medical and energy sectors. They also launched ransomware attacks against US healthcare organizations to fund further espionage. The advisory included technical details and mitigation strategies, urging network defenders to implement robust protections. The advisory was jointly issued by multiple agencies, including the NCSC, FBI, CISA, NSA, and Korean counterparts.

List of chief executives

# Ciaran Martin (3 October 2016 to 31 August 2020) # Lindy Cameron (1 October 2020 to April 2024; ''was Acting CEO (1 September 2020 to 30 September 2020)'') # Felicity Oswald (acting April 2024 to October 2024) # Richard Horne (October 2024 to present)

References

External links

*
"New National Cyber Security Centre set to bring UK expertise together"
– UK Government press release, March 2016
"10 steps to cyber security"
– NCSC, November 2018 {{authority control 2016 establishments in the United Kingdom Cybercrime in the United Kingdom Government agencies established in 2016 Government of the United Kingdom Information technology organisations based in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

National security of the United Kingdom Organisations based in the City of Westminster Computer security organizations

History

List of chief executives

See also

References

External links