UK National Cyber Security Centre
Intelligence agency
| UK National Cyber Security Centre link () | |
|---|---|
| Abbreviation | NCSC |
| Formation | October 2016 |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
| Staff | 1,000 |
The UK National Cyber Security Centre is run by GCHQ.
Official story
Per Wikipedia, The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is an organisation of the United Kingdom Government that provides advice and support for the public and private sector in how to avoid computer security threats. Based in London, it became operational in October 2016, and its parent organisation is GCHQ.[1]
Concerns
As part of the NCSC’s mission to make the UK the "safest place to live and do business online", they announced to be building a data-driven view of “the vulnerability of the UK” in 2022. That included scanning of all devices which they could access from UK's internet. Interestingly enough, although NCSC said it was for "national security" and it needed to scan systems that "are hosted within the UK and and important due to their high impact", UK organisations could also opt out of having their servers that they own or maintain being scanned by emailing a list of IP addresses they wish to be excluded at scanning@ncsc.gov.uk, not explaining who would be given clemency or why some sites could be excluded.[2]
Claims
The Telegraph of 22 August 2026 contained a story titled Iranian hackers shut down UK power plant which reports the NCSC's claim that an (unnamed) UK power plant was shut down for 4 days (dates unspecified) due to hacking by Iranians. The only suggestion about motive is the speculation that "it is possible that the incident was designed to prove that hackers linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps could gain access to systems in the UK and close down sensitive infrastructure sites."[3]
Staff
Andy Settle "is chairman of the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Security Researchers Information Exchange".[4]