- Over 100,000 malicious E emails were discovered and blocked by HMRC
- These were sent between November 2021 and September 2024
- Critical infrastructure is still a top target for cyber criminals
New research has revealed that over 105,000,000 malicious E emails have been blocked by HMRC in the last three years, outlining the escalation of cyber threats against the British government and critical infrastructure.
This information obtained through a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) of the Parliament’s Street Think Tank shows an increase between November 2022 and October 2023 of 40,346,532, a significant increase from the nearly 24,000,000 blocked in the same period the year before.
Critical infrastructure proves to be a severely attractive target of cyber criminals, especially given the urgent of the services they provide and the increase in geopolitical tensions. The consequences of attacks on these providers can be serious, even life -threatening, and over two -fifths of critical infrastructure have suffered a cyber break to date.
A change in gateway
According to the request, HMRC has changed its supplier of its e -mail ‘Gateway’ that blocks and categorizes E emails, which means it can no longer break down the information in malware, phishing, spam or other categories.
There is a recognition of the government that this is an urgent question, with the new Cyber Security Bill introduced to protect critical infrastructure by providing important IT services that cover over 1,000 providers.
This comes after the top security officials labeled Britain “shocking vulnerable” to cyberattacks and pointed to services such as NHS and National Power Grid – both using third -party providers who are not subject to the strict security regulations that public institutions must follow.
“These figures show how gracious cyber criminals are when it comes to targeting government institutions,” says Andy Ward, SVP International at Absolute Security.
“Security teams must be able to isolate and close compromised systems immediately to prevent attacks from spreading. With cyber threats becomes more sophisticated, it is more important than ever to protect the British government departments to have the right tools and defense in place.”
