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UK AI Online Pitch Session > Cyber Security > Features
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See the Threat, Act Now

Striking fear into the hearts of businesses – the threat of cyber-crime looms large over the world’s public and private sector organisations.  And these threats are increasing, with new ones cropping up daily to cause disruption and destruction.

Making headline news throughout the globe, some of the biggest and best protected organisations have fallen victim to digital security breaches – including tech giants Facebook, Google+ and Uber. With that kind of press, it’s no surprise cyber security has rocketed to the top of the global agenda.

Aiming to stay ahead of the hackers, the UK is making significant inroads when it comes to finding an answer to these digital threats.

Crucially, this push for high-tech safety is being spearheaded by the UK government. Pledging £1.9 billion to tackle this danger, the UK introduced a comprehensive National Cyber Security Strategy and created a National Cyber Security Centre. Based in London the NCSC handled more than 10 attacks per week during its first two years of operations. With a proactive approach to securing the UK’s online defences, the NCSC launched the Active Cyber Defence (ACD) initiative – a project that has reduced the UK’s share of visible global phishing attacks by more than half. Between September 2017 and August 2018, the service has removed 138,398 phishing sites hosted in the UK.

The funding is also in place to support the UK’s growing cyber security industry and continue to develop a world-class cyber workforce and deter cyber-attacks. This includes the CYBERUK event – the government’s annual flagship conference, most recently held in Manchester and welcoming over 2,500 delegates.

The cyber security risk is also being addressed within the private sector. UK businesses are adapting and already over 58,000 people work in cyber security-related roles – a jump of 168% in the last five years. The region is becoming a hot bed of talent, supported by the UK’s universities, of which 14 now have academic centres of excellence in cyber security R&D.

Exciting start-ups are constantly emerging. From Threatinformer, which offers automated risk assessments to provide cyber security insurance quotes, to Aimbrain, a biometric-based tech that authenticates customer identity, security innovation is helping the UK remain one step ahead of the hackers.

With a wealth of talent, government support and a history of technological advances, the UK is at the forefront of digital security.

Check out our next blog to discover some of the most exciting ways the UK’s cyber security start-ups are using data to combat cyber-crime.

 

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