NCSC Annual Review 2021

The NCSC continued its partnership with counterparts and organisations in the Scottish, Northern Irish and Welsh governments. Particular focus was on supporting the response to Covid-19, providing:

• Technical advice to the Northern Ireland and Scotland contact-tracing apps, and, as Wales was using the NHS (England) app, advice on secure interconnectivity with NHS Wales’s IT systems.
• Advice on the federated model to allow the various UK apps to communicate with each other.
• Advice on secure SMS and telephony for Covid-19 notifications to citizens – having notified on a potentially fraudulent SMS route, leading to a change to an assured routing.
• Technical advice to devolved vaccination booking systems, either where existing systems were repurposed or a new one created.
• Guidance and advice to businesses and organisations as they increased their online activity during the pandemic.

The NCSC supported victims of ransomware across the UK, including the attack against Scotland’s environmental regulator in December. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) had more than 4,000 digital files stolen by hackers on Christmas Eve, and the NCSC supported SEPA in its response and recovery.

“As head of the Northern Ireland Cyber Security Centre my objective is to make Northern Ireland cyber safe, secure and resilient for its citizens and businesses. We provide support advice and guidance on cyber security and resilience matters at the local level, building out local networks and ecosystems that support this objective. Working with the NCSC gives us access to internationally renowned expert support, guidance and assistance that can be counted on. The NCSC provide support not only in their role as the UK’s cyber technical authority, but also in helping develop and showcase cyber talent and skills development through initiatives like CyberFirst schools and CyberFirst competitions. These initiatives help Northern Ireland showcase its strength on a UK level encouraging cyber talent and leaders not only of today but also of tomorrow.”

Joe Dolan, Head of the Northern Ireland Cyber Security Centre

“The Scottish Government has a strong, positive working relationship with the NCSC and we welcome the expert support and advice it provides to the people and organisations in Scotland. Their Scottish liaison officer, based in Scotland, provides good communication links in and out of the NCSC, ensuring early notification of cyber threats as well as details of new threat solutions are shared and used”

Clare El Azebbi, Head of Cyber Resilience Unit, Scottish Government

“The Welsh Government has utilised some of its National Cyber Security funding for a temporary outward loan post to the NCSC of two days per week. This has enabled more communication across Wales, promoting and increasing the use of the NCSC’s advice, guidance and tools, particularly across the public sector. Some of the materials have been translated into Welsh, which again has increased take-up. The NCSC played a central role in exercising the Covid-19 vaccine roll out in Wales and is assisting the Welsh government in the technical aspects of the creation of 2 border check points.”

The Welsh Government