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
In show of support, Canada, France open consulates in Greenland
- Decisions taken in a strong show of support for Greenland government amid threats by US President Trump to seize the island
COPENHAGEN, Denmark: Canada and France, which both adamantly oppose Donald Trump’s wish to control Greenland, will open consulates in the Danish autonomous territory’s capital on Friday, in a strong show of support for the local government.
Since returning to the White House last year, Trump has repeatedly insisted that Washington needs to control the strategic, mineral-rich Arctic island for security reasons.
The US president last month backed off his threats to seize Greenland after saying he had struck a “framework” deal with NATO chief Mark Rutte to ensure greater American influence.
A US-Denmark-Greenland working group has been established to discuss ways to meet Washington’s security concerns in the Arctic, but the details of the talks have not been made public.
While Denmark and Greenland have said they share Trump’s security concerns, they have insisted that sovereignty and territorial integrity are a “red line” in the discussions.
“In a sense, it’s a victory for Greenlanders to see two allies opening diplomatic representations in Nuuk,” said Jeppe Strandsbjerg, a political scientist at the University of Greenland.
“There is great appreciation for the support against what Trump has said.”
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Paris’s plans to open a consulate during a visit to Nuuk in June, where he expressed Europe’s “solidarity” with Greenland and criticized Trump’s ambitions.
The newly-appointed French consul, Jean-Noel Poirier, has previously served as ambassador to Vietnam.
Canada meanwhile announced in late 2024 that it would open a consulate in Greenland to boost cooperation.
The opening of the consulates is “a way of telling Donald Trump that his aggression against Greenland and Denmark is not a question for Greenland and Denmark alone, it’s also a question for European allies and also for Canada as an ally, as a friend of Greenland and the European allies also,” Ulrik Pram Gad, Arctic expert at the Danish Institute of International Studies, told AFP.
“It’s a small step, part of a strategy where we are making this problem European,” said Christine Nissen, security and defense analyst at the Europa think tank.
“The consequences are obviously not just Danish. It’s European and global.”
Recognition
According to Strandsbjerg, the two consulates — which will be attached to the French and Canadian embassies in Copenhagen — will give Greenland an opportunity to “practice” at being independent, as the island has long dreamt of cutting its ties to Denmark one day.
The decision to open diplomatic missions is also a recognition of Greenland’s growing autonomy, laid out in its 2009 Self-Government Act, Nissen said.
“In terms of their own quest for sovereignty, the Greenlandic people will think to have more direct contact with other European countries,” she said.
That would make it possible to reduce Denmark’s role “by diversifying Greenland’s dependence on the outside world, so that it is not solely dependent on Denmark and can have more ties for its economy, trade, investments, politics and so on,” echoed Pram Gad.
Greenland has had diplomatic ties with the European Union since 1992, with Washington since 2014 and with Iceland since 2017.
Iceland opened its consulate in Nuuk in 2013, while the United States, which had a consulate in the Greenlandic capital from 1940 to 1953, reopened its mission in 2020.
The European Commission opened its office in 2024.
