Almost one billion early-stage cyber-attacks and attempts to access scam websites have been blocked by a new government cyber service in less than a year, according to the National Cyber Security Centre and BT.

The Share and Defend service, developed by the NCSC, works to disrupt online crime by sharing near real-time data on known fraudulent and malicious websites with internet service providers, which can then prevent customers from clicking through.

Online content such as fake shops, phishing sites and malicious links, including from emails reported to the NCSC by the public, are being blocked automatically providing better protection at scale.

“I am very pleased that the cutting-edge Share and Defend service has blocked almost a billion attempts to access malicious content,” Dan Jarvis, security minister, said at the Cyber Resilience Summit 2025.

“It shows we are making Britain a hard target for cyber criminals by protecting businesses and citizens on a daily basis.

“The government will continue to use technology and to build strong partnerships across industry to secure our nation against threats and boost economic growth.”

Share and Defend partners also include the Cyber Defence Alliance, TalkTalk, PXC, Vodafone, and Jisc, the UK’s National Research and Education Network Operator and the NCSC is looking to onboard new partners to extend the reach, so more citizens and businesses from across the UK can benefit from protection.

It supports the Government’s work to step up cooperation with businesses to protect the public through the Stop! Think Fraud campaign at a time of year when more people are shopping online.

The services aims to proactively prevent access to malicious websites as well as automatically block online threats directly via internet service providers.

It relies on the collection of threat intelligence such as harmful or malicious domains and URLs, often from cyber reports and security firms.

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The data is shared with internet service providers which then block the websites automatically even if an unsuspecting user clicks on a link to these malicious sites.

“At a time when we are all increasingly dependent on technology to run our lives, the NCSC’s Share and Defend service is helping to protect the British public at an unprecedented scale,” Dr Richard Horne, CEO of the NCSC, said.

“As one of our Active Cyber Defence services, this capability demonstrates the impact that we can have when we intervene to block malicious activity, working alongside industry partners.

“Collaboration is essential for proactively countering the threat, and we look forward to extending the success of the programme driving up our national cyber resilience.”