The third annual Active Cyber Defence (ACD) has been issued and the 2021 them is to provide transparency on the efforts to protect people in the U.K. from “the majority of the harm caused by the majority of the cyber attacks”. The ACD programme seeks to prevent a range of different attacks ever reaching UK citizens, institutions or businesses. By operating in a relatively automated and scalable way, it is designed to removes the burden of action from the user and enables attacks to be taken down at scale.
Given that he report features the work of Nominet which delivers Protective Domain Name System (PDNS) on behalf of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) for the UK Government, it is appropriate that David Carroll, MD of Nominet’s Cyber Security Arm provides commentary to Digital Journal.
PDNS was built to hamper the use of Domain Name Service (DNS) for malware distribution and operation. Hence, PDNS prevents users from accessing domains or IPs that are known to contain malicious content and stops malware already on a network from calling home.
Carroll emphasizes the importance of the activities surrounding the ACD: “The sheer extent of queries and response demonstrates that PDNS is a genuine force multiplier in cyber defence. What’s more, we firmly believe that it’s not just what you deliver, but how you deliver it. ”
Looking specifically at the PDNS concept, Carroll states: “The service wrap that sits alongside PDNS is second-to-none and ensures that end users are both protected and feel supported throughout the process. The stats around onboarding and recommending PDNS speak for themselves and is a testament to the hard work of teams here at Nominet. Suffice to say, Active Cyber Defence is pioneering and we look forward to playing our part as it treads new ground in years to come.”
