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What the NCSC Annual Review 2025 means for UK business cybersecurity

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A woman with long blonde hair wearing a navy Techcare polo shirt.

Emily Keeling

Posted Oct 20, 2025

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has released its 2025 Annual Review, and its message is clear: cybersecurity is now a business resilience issue, not just an IT problem.

From escalating threats and AI-powered attacks to a growing focus on resilience and collaboration, the Review highlights the challenges UK organisations are facing — and the critical role Managed Service Providers (MSPs) play in helping businesses stay secure.

At Techcare, cybersecurity is at the heart of everything we do. Here’s our summary of the key findings, and what they mean for your business.

 

1. The threat landscape is evolving, and accelerating

The NCSC reports a sharp rise in serious cyber incidents, with nearly half of all cases managed by the organisation classified as nationally significant. Even more concerning: there’s been a 50% increase in highly significant incidents compared to last year.

State-linked actors from countries such as Russia, China, and Iran remain active — but it’s not just large enterprises being targeted. The NCSC warns that attackers are using AI tools to enhance phishing campaigns, reconnaissance, and post-breach activity. Meanwhile, legacy systems and unpatched vulnerabilities continue to be the weakest link.

 

What this means for UK businesses:

  • Assume a cyberattack will happen — not “if”, but when.

  • Legacy systems and outdated software are an open door for attackers.

  • AI is changing the game, making attacks more sophisticated and harder to spot.

  • You need more than just protection — you need detection, response, and recovery strategies.

As an MSP, Techcare helps businesses build that resilience — from proactive threat monitoring to rapid response planning.

 

2. Resilience is the new priority

A major focus of the NCSC’s Review is resilience — the ability to continue operating even when an attack succeeds.

Too many organisations wait until after a breach to act. The NCSC challenges this mindset with one key question:

"why don't organisations act sooner?"

The message is simple: plan, prepare, and test before it’s too late.

 

How MSPs like Techcare can help:

  • Conduct incident response simulations and resilience audits.

  • Deliver business continuity planning and secure, offsite backup solutions.

  • Implement Cyber Essentials and advanced monitoring tools aligned with NCSC guidance.

  • Reduce the time between vulnerability detection and remediation.

Our approach at Techcare combines prevention with preparedness — ensuring your business can recover quickly, maintain operations, and protect its reputation.

 

3. Technology is changing. So are the threats

The Review warns that as organisations adopt AI, cloud, IoT, and OT technologies, the attack surface is expanding rapidly.
Emerging risks include:

  • AI-enabled attacks

  • Identity and access vulnerabilities

  • Supply chain compromises

  • Cloud misconfigurations

The NCSC also highlights the need to prepare for post-quantum cryptography and digital identity evolution — future challenges that forward-thinking MSPs must be ready to tackle.

 

How Techcare is preparing clients for the future:

  • Delivering identity-first security with zero-trust frameworks.

  • Securing cloud environments and hybrid workforces.

  • Training teams on AI and next-gen threat awareness.

  • Helping organisations modernise and replace unsupported systems.

By staying ahead of emerging technologies, Techcare ensures your cybersecurity strategy evolves with your business — not behind it.

 

4. Collaboration is key

The NCSC makes one thing very clear: no single organisation can tackle cyber threats alone. Partnerships between government, private sector, and security providers are essential to national resilience.

The Review also highlights initiatives like the Pall Mall Process, which aims to regulate commercial intrusion tools and improve international cybersecurity collaboration.

 

What this means for UK businesses:

  • Engage with trusted security partners who are part of wider threat-sharing networks.

  • Educate staff and leadership — cybersecurity is everyone’s responsibility.

  • Choose MSPs who don’t just supply tools, but provide strategic guidance and partnership.

At Techcare, we actively collaborate with vendors, customers, and UK cybersecurity initiatives to share intelligence, strengthen defences, and deliver better outcomes for our clients.

 

5. The takeaway: it’s time to act

The NCSC’s 2025 Review ends with a challenge to UK organisations:
stop waiting for the perfect moment — start strengthening your defences now.

Here are the key takeaways every business should remember:

  1. Cyber risk is business risk — it belongs in the boardroom.

  2. Assume breach — build detection, response, and recovery into your plan.

  3. Legacy systems = vulnerability — modernise your infrastructure.

  4. AI is both a tool and a threat — use it wisely and defend against it.

  5. Security is shared — it requires collaboration across people, processes, and partners.

 

How Techcare can help

Techcare partners with UK businesses to deliver end-to-end cybersecurity and IT resilience — from managed detection and response to governance, training, and compliance.

Our cybersecurity experts can help you:

  • Conduct a risk and resilience audit aligned with NCSC guidance

  • Implement Cyber Essentials and ISO-based frameworks

  • Develop an incident response plan and recovery strategy

  • Educate teams through ongoing security awareness training

If the NCSC’s 2025 Review is a wake-up call for your organisation, we’re here to help you take action.

Arrange a cybersecurity review.