The UK has been bombarded by 590 ‘significant’ cyber-security incidents in the last twelve months, of which 30 required a ‘cross-governmental response process’, according to a new report released by the NCSC.

Created last October as a more specialist division of intelligence organisation GCHQ, the National Cyber Security Centre has faced what the numbers show to be a daily onslaught of attempted-breaches and malicious attacks.

A handful of these were successful, and culminated in the incidents that have defined 2017 so far – WannaCry and the Scottish parliament, for example. The NCSC claims to have faced a total of 1,131 reports of cyber-incidents in the last year, an average of over two per day. The highest profile attacks of this year reached Category Two billing – no incident reached Category One, which the NCSC defines as threatening the Government or specifically targeting critical infrastructures, such as energy.

Cairin Martin, CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre, was quick to highlight the challenge that the organisation faces on a daily basis. Martin said: “The reality of the threat we face – large, growing and diverse – means that some attacks will get through, and the first duty of the NCSC is to help manage and mitigate the impact of those attacks.”

But the NCSC has not been solely on the defensive. The organisation has launched multiple cyber-crime offensives. According to the report its anti-phishing campaign reduced the average time that phishing sites remain online after detection from 27 hours down to just an hour. Over 20,410 malicious domains were also blocked by the NCSC in August alone.

A crucial component of defence is a thriving intelligence community, and the NCSC also claims that it has embedded itself in a number of initiatives to connect with the wider security landscape. These include the NCSC’s own CyberUK summit – delivered to over 2,300 delegates in March this year – an event which explored both the strategy and practice behind proper cyber-defence.

The Cyber Security Information Partnership (CiSP), an online community dedicated to information-sharing on security, has also been supported by the NCSC since its inception. The forum now attracts 4,000 visitors per month.

Martin emphasised that he was proud of the NCSC’s work so far, but asserted that the challenge remains ever-present. He said: “There is so much more to do in our second year, and in the years ahead, to counter this strategic threat to our values, prosperity and way of life. We know that as well as our talented and dedicated staff, we can also count on our partners – in the rest of GCHQ and the UK intelligence community; in law enforcement, particularly the National Crime Agency; in wider Government; in industry and internationally – as we set about meeting that challenge.”