Government cuts cyber-attack fix times by 84% and launches new profession to protect public services

The government has launched a new vulnerability monitoring service (VMS) to reduce cyber risks and speed up fixes, and a new Cyber Profession to build long-term resilience across public services.

Public services millions of people depend on – from the NHS to the Legal Aid Agency – are becoming significantly safer and more resilient thanks to major improvements by the government to identify and fix cyber threats.

A specialist government monitoring service, introduced as part of the Blueprint for modern digital government, published in January 2025, means serious security weaknesses in public sector websites are fixed 6 times faster – cutting the average time from nearly 2 months to just over a week.

The vulnerabilities are in the Domain Name System (DNS) — the internet’s address book that turns website names into the numbers computers use to find them. Weaknesses in DNS can allow attackers to redirect users to fraudulent sites, steal sensitive data, or take services offline entirely — with potentially serious consequences for anyone relying on government services.