The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has highlighted the cyber risk to the country’s cultural institutions, saying they provide an attractive target for threat actors.
It said it has recently met with representatives from the sector to discuss what can be done to protect their digital collections.
They host online collections that nationally amount to millions of digital records and enable them to increate accessibility of their materials.
This has contributed to the big contribution of the creative industries to the UK economy – which NCSC said amounted to £103.8 billion in 2020 – but also makes the institutions a target for ransomware. It could also affect their future income.
The NCSC urged organisations in the cultural sector to ensure they are well prepared against any attack. Its advice includes: adopting a ‘defence in depth’ approach, with several mitigations at each layer of defence; following its guidance on mitigating against malware and ransomware attacks; and if already infected following its ransomware guidance.
Biggest threat
Its director for national resilience and future technology, Jonathon Ellison, said: “The ransomware model continues to evolve, but whatever face it takes, it remains the biggest day-to-day cyber security threat to UK organisations.
“Effective preparation is central to preventing future ransomware attacks, and implementing NCSC advice, such as the simple protective measures outlined in our ransomware guidance, will help UK institutions to reduce their likelihood of being infected.
“Maintaining proper cyber hygiene may seem unexceptional as a recommendation, but it comes full circle: robust cyber security improves resilience, and with resilience comes not only stronger defences that deter cyber criminals, but also a much more effective response and recovery process.”
