LONDON: Britain’s cybersecurity chief warned on Tuesday of a rise in hostile activity in the country’s cyberspace, with the number of incidents handled by officials rising by 16 percent in 2024 compared to a year ago.
“Hostile activity in UK cyberspace has increased in frequency, sophistication and intensity,” the National Cyber Security Center’s Richard Horne will say in a speech later on Tuesday, according to a statement released by the government agency.
“Actors are increasingly using our technology dependence against us, seeking to cause maximum disruption and destruction.”
The incident management team at the NCSC handled 430 incidents in 2024, compared to 371 the previous year, the agency said in the statement.
Of those, 347 involved some level of data exfiltration — the intentional, unauthorized, covert transfer of data from a computer or other device — while 20 involved ransomware, said the NCSC, which is part of Britain’s GCHQ spy agency.
The team issued 542 bespoke notifications informing organizations of a cyber incident impacting them and providing advice on mitigation, more than double the 258 notifications issued last year.
In its annual review published alongside the statement, the NCSC said ransomware attacks posed “the most immediate and disruptive” threat to critical infrastructure like energy, water, transportation, health and telecommunications.
The review also warned of the potential of hackers to exploit AI to create more advanced cyberattacks.
“We believe the severity of the risk facing the UK is being widely underestimated,” Horne is set to say in his speech.
“There is no room for complacency about the severity of state-led threats or the volume of the threat posed by cyber criminals.”
UK facing increased hostile activity in cyberspace, security official warns
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UK facing increased hostile activity in cyberspace, security official warns
- The incident management team at the NCSC handled 430 incidents in 2024, compared to 371 the previous year, the agency said in the statement
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
