Following the successful national launch of Police
CyberAlarm in 2020, the National Cybercrime Programme has today (12/7) gone
live with an enhanced version of the police-led system, bringing additional
functionality to help businesses and organisations better understand the cyber
threats they face.
The enhanced version of the award-winning free tool works
alongside an organisation’s current cyber security products, such as the firewall,
Network Intrusion Detection System (IDS) and Intrusion Protection System (IPS),
Anti-Spam and Network Anti-Virus.
Data received by the Police CyberAlarm Server is then used
to create regular reports on potential malicious activity seen by individual
members as well as reports containing threat trends seen across the member
network. Members can then use this reported intelligence to update their
defences to better protect themselves from cyber threats.
Vulnerability Scanning can be added and used to scan an
organisations website and external IP addresses, providing regular reports of
all known vulnerabilities.
Since launch, Police CyberAlarm has identified over a
billion potential suspicious events resulting in reports and advice being given
to members, enabling them to take action to prevent a successful attack.
In one case Police CyberAlarm detected a UDP amplification
attack, a very potent attack method that turns an organisation’s own equipment
against it, causing the member organisation infrastructure to attack
itself. Working with the Police
CyberAlarm team, the member was able to mitigate the effects of the attack
stopping it from having any effect on its network.
In another case a company, which was not a Police CyberAlarm
member, fell victim to a ransomware attack which forced it to shut down
business critical systems. After contacting the police, Police CyberAlarm was installed
immediately by the company, which was able to identify the method of the attack,
which was communicated to the company to allow it to close the vulnerabilities
that existed. The company’s next Police CyberAlarm report indicated that almost
1.3 million attempts to gain access had been made in the week after the attack.
“We see alerts
everyday of potential vulnerability or suspicious activity via Police
CyberAlarm to its members. It is a key tool in an organisation’s cyber
resilience toolkit and the additional functionality will enable policing to
help businesses better protect themselves.
As well as the data
collected helping members to better protect themselves, the information
gathered also helps regional and force cybercrime teams to build a much better
understanding of the scale, types and clusters of cyber threats directed at
members across England and Wales. Policing has been able to use the information
collected to enable the local and regional cybercrime teams to proactively warn
members of new and emerging threats”
As well as the data collected by Police CyberAlarm helping
members to better protect themselves, the information gathered also helps
regional and force cybercrime teams to build a much better understanding of the
scale, types and clusters of cyber threats being aimed at members across
England and Wales. Policing has been able to use the information collected to
enable the local and regional cybercrime teams to proactively warn members of
new emerging, recent and zero-day threats.
To coincide with the launch of the enhanced version of
Police CyberAlarm, a new website has also been unveiled to make it easier for
potential member organisations to get further information about the benefits of
becoming a member and sign up for free. https://cyberalarm.police.uk/
About the National Cybercrime Programme
The National Cybercrime Programme forms part of the National
Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) economic and cyber-crime portfolio led by
Commissioner Angela McLaren and supported by Assistant Commissioner Pete
O’Doherty. The programme was initially established to deliver the local
capabilities project, establishing force level dedicated cybercrime units
across England and Wales. The remit has widened with the programme currently
working on over 30 live projects, including national training, Cyber Resilience
Centres, Cryptocurrency training and tools, Police CyberAlarm and the Cyber
Digital Specials and Volunteers program. The programme team are here to support
the Team Cyber UK Network to build a word leading cyber policing capability
with access to the best training, tools and technology available.
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