Ransomware is poised to be the biggest cybersecurity threat to UK businesses within the foreseeable future, according to National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) CEO Lindy Cameron.
Cameron reflected on her first year as the head of NCSC in a speech made at Chatham House last October 11. In the speech, she looked back at the lessons she has learned during the past year, warning that ransomware attacks, while dangerous, are completely avoidable.
The damage caused by ransomware attacks on the public sector, according to Cameron, has been significant enough that it can severely affect critical services such as healthcare.
She cites the cyberattack that targeted Ireland's Health Service Executive, which led to months of appointment and service disruption. She also took note of the SolarWinds attack, which was allegedly perpetrated by Russia-based hackers, as reported by the BBC.
These cases of ransomware attacks, according to Cameron, are just bound to keep happening because organizations seem to almost always be willing to pay to get the hackers out of their hair.
As such, the NCSC CEO proposed that the UK aim to implement a sustained and proactive campaign to combat those who plan to harm the nation's digital infrastructure, which includes gangs of ransomware hackers.
Cameron further claims that ransomware presents the most immediate danger to the UK--not just to businesses but to other sectors and establishments such as schools, local councils, and even critical national infrastructure.
The NCSC head claims that her organization is ready to meet the ransomware challenge head-on by pushing for greatly improved cybersecurity strategies that will make the UK a "superpower" in science and technology.
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A Brief Look At The Life Of Lindy Cameron
Before assuming her post as the head of the NCSC, Lindy Cameron served as the Director General for the Northern Ireland Office and the Department of International Development (DFID) Country Programmes, according to the University of Cambridge.
She was appointed the new CEO of the NCSC in October 2020.
Her role at the NCSC largely includes ensuring an adequate national response to multiple cybersecurity incidents every year, improving the resilience of the UK's digital infrastructure from said attacks, and identifying opportunities for the country when it comes to emerging technologies.
Cameron also worked as a governance specialist in multiple locations, having been assigned in Vietnam, Nigeria, Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Balkans.
She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and was the recipient of the Companion of the Order of the Bath, a chivalric order established almost 300 years ago, for her 21 years of service at the DFID.
The awarding of the chivalric honor to Cameron was announced by the DFID on Twitter:
Belfast-born Lindy Cameron given Companion of the Order of the Bath after 21 years @DFID_UK. Was DG for Country Programmes, until joining NI Office in May.
— DFID (@DFID_UK) December 28, 2019
“I’m delighted. It's a huge testament to the work of the 1,500 amazing people I led across 32 country offices" pic.twitter.com/aUqei4VzR7
Cameron graduated from the University of Oxford with a BA in Modern History and also earned a Master's degree in Law and Diplomacy from Tufts University's Fletcher School in the United States.
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Written by RJ Pierce
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