The UK’s Secretary of State for Defence has reportedly warned Russia of retaliatory cyber-attacks if the Kremlin targets British networks following an invasion of Ukraine.
The House of Commons statement from Ben Wallace came as President Putin ordered Russian troops to invade the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine following weeks of military build-up at the border.
“I’m a soldier – I was always taught the best part of defense is offense,” Wallace is reported to have said in the Commons.
The UK’s offensive cyber operations unit, known as the National Cyber Force (NCF), was first mooted in 2018, drawing personnel from GCHQ, the Ministry of Defence, MI6, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).
It’s said to be in line for £5bn in funding before 2030 to help its mission to respond in a “legal, ethical and proportionate” manner to disrupt hostile states, terrorists and criminals threatening the UK’s national security.
At the same time, National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) CEO, Lindy Cameron, urged UK organizations at the weekend to step up their resilience to potential state-sponsored attacks from the east.
She pointed to previous destructive cyber campaigns linked to the Kremlin, including NotPetya, as an example of how localized disputes can have a global impact – whether intentional or not.
“The UK is closer to the crisis in Ukraine than you might think. While 2,000-odd miles separate us physically from their borders with Russia, that distance is much shorter in cyberspace – and attacks targeting Ukraine’s Read more: https://bit.ly/34WGnV7