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Simon Darley
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“We needed to find solutions to a variety of issues whilst being a complex business, operating in a 24/7 environment. Stripe OLT listened and understood immediately the challenges we faced.”
What the NCSC’s Early Warning service actually does, and why it’s one of the most underused tools in UK cyber security.
“When attacks move this fast, time-to-detect is crucial.”
At Stripe OLT, we talk about cyber awareness a lot – but for us, it isn’t something that starts and ends in October. It’s every day life for our SOC.
We see first-hand how quickly the landscape shifts. Microsoft’s Digital Defence Report 2024 highlights a stark reality – password-based attacks have surged by more than tenfold in just a year, with Microsoft now blocking an average of 7,000 password attacks every second across its platforms.
That’s not an abstract number. It reflects what we see daily in our SOC: attackers are faster, more automated, and more persistent than ever. And while the headlines focus on large enterprise attacks, SMEs continue to face the same threats, often without the visibility or resources they need to detect early warning signs.
When attacks move this fast, time-to-detect is crucial.
The Power of Free Threat Intelligence
That’s why I’m constantly surprised by how many UK organisations, haven’t signed up to the NCSC’s Early Warning service.
It’s completely free for UK Businesses.
And it’s one of the simplest ways to gain visibility into whether your organisation has ongoing or undetected malicious activity.
What does it do?
Early Warning will notify on all cyber attacks detected by our feed suppliers against your organisation
Flags signs of exposure to known exploits or scanning activity
Provides high fidelity insight into early indicators of compromise
It takes just minutes to register, and the data you receive is sourced directly from government and trusted public feeds.
Why it matters?
Throughout my career, I’ve worked with security teams of every maturity level, and one thing remains constant – Early Warning won’t prevent an attack, but it could be the reason you catch it early. It can tip you off to an unnoticed misconfiguration, a compromised asset, or an attacker probing your network perimeter.
And in an age where the average dwell time of a threat actor inside a network is measured in weeks – every day matters.
Most compromises are moving quickly, with attacks sometimes launched and final payloads deployed within minutes.
If you’re depending on periodic logs or manual review, chances are your detection window is being outpaced.
That makes free, high-fidelity feeds like the NCSC Early Warning service not just helpful, but strategically critical for added situational awareness.
Combine Intelligence with Proactive Action
For many, security needs to be simple – and that means at the very least, you need to combine the fundamentals with smart, proactive layers of defence.
Vulnerability patching
Strong identity protection
Endpoint detection and response (EDR)
Continuous monitoring through a SOC
And yes, early threat intelligence like the NCSC service
This isn’t just another box to tick. It’s a strategic opportunity to gain early situational awareness.
If I could give you one bit of advice to takeaway during cyber awareness month – don’t miss what’s free and effective. If you haven’t registered with the early warning system yet – do it today.
Free intelligence like NCSC’s Early Warning service is a great start – but it’s only one piece of the puzzle. For complete visibility, continuous monitoring, and 24/7 response, get in touch with our experts today.
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