UK cybercrime agency blocks nearly 1 billion access attempts to malicious websites

• NCSC’s “Share and Defend” service blocked 1B malicious site visits in under a year
• Tool pools threat intel and Protective DNS data, enabling ISPs to block harmful domains in real time
• UK ransomware attacks doubled year-on-year; cyber insurance claims rose 230%, prompting a new National Cyber Action Plan

In just under 12 months, UK netizens tried to access malicious websites a billion times. Luckily, a new NCSC tool called “Share and Defend service” prevented that from happening, effectively saving people from compromised accounts, stolen data, and lost money.

This is according to a new report published by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), and BT, issued earlier this week. Share and Defend was first announced in May last year, and works by pooling together data from threat intelligence providers, NCSC’s Protective DNS (PDNS), Takedown services, and other sources.

The information about malicious domains and ...