UK Tightens Government Cyber Security After Cutting Critical Vulnerabilities by 75%

The UK government has launched a Vulnerability Monitoring Service (VMS) and a new government Cyber Profession to strengthen public-sector cyber resilience. The VMS continuously scans around 6,000 public organizations, focuses on DNS and other common misconfigurations, and has reduced the average remediation window from nearly 50 days to eight while cutting the backlog of critical vulnerabilities by 75%. The announcement pairs technical automation and faster patching with a workforce initiative—including a cyber academy and apprenticeship pathways—to address persistent skills shortages and make public service cyber roles more competitive.