Digital Transformation Consulting

In response to a significant rise in cyber-attacks in the UK, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) faced the challenge of enhancing its Protective Domain Name Service (PDNS) to better protect public sector organizations from increasingly sophisticated threats. In 2024, incidents of cyber breaches had tripled compared to the previous year, affecting half of UK businesses and a third of charities. The existing PDNS was insufficient to handle the volume and complexity of threats, particularly those exploiting vulnerabilities in the domain name system (DNS).

To address these issues, the NCSC partnered with Accenture and Cloudflare to develop a scalable and agile PDNS platform. This new system was designed to provide robust threat detection and protection, specifically targeting threats such as phishing and malware. The implementation involved transitioning over 8 million public sector users to the new platform without disrupting critical operations. The team utilized advanced AI for real-time threat detection and ensured extensive communication with more than 1,000 organizations to prepare them for the transition.

The results of this initiative were significant. In the first month after the new PDNS went live, the system analyzed 100 billion queries and blocked 350 million cyber threats. Over the first six months, it successfully blocked 2 billion threats. Additionally, the new system is projected to prevent average annual losses of at least £59 million, demonstrating its effectiveness in safeguarding public sector organizations. The PDNS is also designed to be endlessly scalable, allowing for rapid onboarding of new organizations while maintaining high levels of protection. This advancement positions the NCSC to manage trillions of queries annually, contributing to a safer digital environment for the UK.