GCHQ flags up spike in serious UK cyberattacks

Attacks deemed of significance to national security have doubled over the past year to 200 a month, GCHQ claims

The number of serious cyberattacks GCHQ thwarts has doubled over the past year, its director general of cybersecurity has claimed.

Ciaran Martin said the intelligence agency is now identifying 200 attacks a month that either target critical infrastructure or can be traced to significant sources such as hostile states. That's up from 100 last summer.

"These are attacks that are of significance to national security," Martin was quoted as saying in the Telegraph and several other papers.

"That is either because of who the aggressor or the victim is or because of the nature of the attack."

Martin's comments came as GCHQ unveiled a new £6.5m scheme, CyberInvest, designed to support "cutting-edge" cybersecurity research and protect the UK in cyberspace.

"Over the past four years we have invested over £20m in UK cybersecurity research, and the new CyberInvest scheme will play an important role in our ongoing work to help protect UK citizens and businesses online," Ed Vaisey, minister for culture and the digital economy, said of the scheme, which was launched by GCHQ in conjunction with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.