National Crime Agency lists cyber criminals as major UK threat

The National Crime Agency (NCA) has identified five key areas where cybercriminals are a threat to UK businesses and the public.

The organisation said the targeted compromise of UK networks to modify, delete or steal data to gain a competitive advantage was an increasing threat. This type of attack was also used by criminals to undermine user confidence, inflict reputational damage or to gain control of infrastructure.

It also said the UK will see an increase in use in targeted disruption of access to UK networks and services as DDoS protocols capable of launching powerful attacks against business critical systems grew in numbers. The NCA said ransomware attacks would increase and move from individuals to organisations.

The NCA forecasts that over the next three years there would be an increasing volume of cyber-dependent criminality, due to traditional' crime groups utilising the as-a-service' nature of the cybercrime marketplace. It warned that UK law enforcement had a limited capacity and capability to respond to such threats.

Support services critical to cyber-dependent crime success are increasingly being used by others, extending the gap between law enforcement and criminal capacity and capability, it said.

Another continual threat was from the large scale harvesting of personal and business data to commit fraud offences against UK individuals and organisations. The NCA said this would likely remain a constant threat with bespoke variants of malware and criminal tools targeting mobile tech likely to increase over the next 36 months.

"Over the last two decades, the internet and digital communications technology have steadily increased their penetration into all sectors of UK society and business. More and more government and public services are going online and it is likely that attempted cyber attacks against government services will increase," the report said.

"Awareness of how far cyber-enabled crime has permeated into local and regional serious and organised criminal groups is currently uneven," it added. "Criminals chase higher returns and seek to exploit less mature security measures, which makes cyber the leading channel for committing multiple types of economic crime."