Fake UK government website redirect detection time reduced to eight days | Computer Weekly

"The Vulnerability Monitoring Service has transformed how quickly we can spot and fix weaknesses before they're exploited so we can protect against that. We've cut cyber attack fix times by 84% and reduced the backlog of critical issues by three-quarters. And as the service expands to cover more types of cyber threats, fix times are falling there, too."

"Weaknesses in the Domain Name System (DNS), which converts website URLs into the network addresses of internet connected servers, can be used to redirect users to fraudulent sites, steal sensitive data or take services offline entirely - with potentially serious consequences for anyone relying on government services."

"The Vulnerability Monitoring Service continuously scans 6,000 UK public sector bodies, detecting around 1,000 different types of cyber vulnerabilities. When a weakness is identified, the service alerts the relevant organisation with specific, actionable guidance and tracks progress until the issue is resolved."

The UK government has implemented the Vulnerability Monitoring Service to address DNS vulnerabilities that allow hackers to redirect citizens to fake government websites. DNS weaknesses can redirect users to fraudulent sites, steal data, or disable services. Previously, fraudulent DNS records went undetected for nearly two months. The new service reduces this to eight days and continuously scans 6,000 UK public sector bodies, detecting around 1,000 cyber vulnerability types. The service has cut cyber attack fix times by 84%, reduced median vulnerability remediation time from 53 to 32 days, and decreased critical domain-related vulnerability backlogs by 75%.

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