UK security in shock as America signals end to cyber operations against Russia
UK security in shock as America signals end to cyber operations against Russia
Posted by theipaper
UK security in shock as America signals end to cyber operations against Russia
UK security in shock as America signals end to cyber operations against Russia
Posted by theipaper
17 comments
British security officials have reacted in “disbelief” to reports that US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered US spies to stop cyber operations against Russia with one describing the decision as “madness”.
They also fear that the move will leave the UK “more vulnerable” to Kremlin-inspired cyber attacks.
The Pentagon is understood to be re-evaluating operations against Russia, as the US seeks to thaw relations with Russian president Vladimir Putin and strike a peace deal over Ukraine.
News reports in the US media claim Hegseth ordered the Pentagon agency responsible for cyber campaigns, the US Cyber Command, to halt its operations against Russia before President Donald Trump’s meeting with Ukraine‘s president Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
A UK intelligence source described the reports as “madness” and said, if true, showed a clear indication that the US was seeking to strike a “cyber peace deal” with Russia.
They said it might stop Kremlin-linked gangs from launching cyber attacks in the US which had previously targeted critical national infrastructure and infiltrated government departments.
However, the source feared this decision “will leave Europe and the UK as open targets”, adding that “the US will just say we should have spent more”.
Nicholas Williams, a former senior official at Nato and the Ministry of Defence, said the move may be a gesture from the Trump administration to show Putin they are “sincere and committed” to improving relations and ending the war in Ukraine. But Williams also fears it could leave the UK “isolated and more vulnerable”.
He said: “The outcome of the war in Ukraine will be that the UK is targeted more than probably any other European ally because the UK is blamed by the Russians not only for encouraging the Ukrainians but also for a host of what the Russians consider terrorist actions of Ukrainians.
“Cyber attacks are one of the things Russia can do short of triggering Article 5 in Nato or an enhanced economic and political response.”
The proposed pause of Russia-focused work at the US Cyber Command flies in the face of previous assessments of both the US and UK governments. Both have warned of the cyber threat from the Kremlin and criminal gangs operating from Russia.
Last year, a catastrophic cyber attack on the NHS caused thousands of appointments and operations to be cancelled last year. *The i* *Paper* revealed the attack was the work of a Kremlin-protected group of cyber hackers in what has been seen as a “major escalation” of cyber warfare tactics by Moscow.
Months later, this newspaper revealed the UK ambulance service was then targeted by Russian hackers, and hundreds of Ministry of Defence emails and passwords were stolen by criminal groups using Russian hacking software.
US agencies under former president Joe Biden accused Russian intelligence of orchestrating attacks “for the purpose of espionage, sabotage and reputational harm”.
This is what nigel campaigned for.
Well you don’t need to man any listening posts then. Off you fuck
So just for context for people, American has stopped OFFENSIVE cyber ops ( shock horror yes we engage in cyber attacks) not DEFENSIVE cyber ops. Reasoning I can think of is that they want it to be act of good faith in bringing them to the table.
I don’t agree it personally as you can trust Russia’s word as well as you can trusts North Korea’s but it is a case of they have just pressed the pause button which can be equally turned on again anytime they want.
Time for 5 eyes to lose an eye. Cut off American access to our military bases, cut off intelligence sharing.
As shit as it has been since Trump came into power, in the long run, it is only better that we learn to build and stand on our own.
It’s still important to have Allies we can share defence and information with, but we have been way to reliant on the USA for to long, they call the shots because they are Bullies, well now they have pushed to hard.
Maybe once we have some of our power back, we can get them to make amends for the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo, and let Hawaii decide if it wants to be part of the USA or not.
They lost a lot of soft power cutting USAID, but they are going to lose a lot of hard power as the world starts working out how to build themselves up without America as a backstop.
Even if he gets removed from Office, who is going to willingly risk it happening again? Lesson learnt, time to build inter-dependence away from the USA
Thaw relations is putting it mildly, they want deep throat each other
Allies have spied on Allies for centuries. If no one in the US is watching Russia, then I am afraid for the US. This can only end badly
When UK MOD is offering £67k a year salary for Deputy Head of Cyber Security Role. Your security is a joke
This one can have really grim consequences. Sad day.
I pray this only pushes internal growth, advances on all fronts and independence.
Imagine theres the prospect of peace but the europeans are bloodthirsty and cant take the L.
The bible predicted it
We aren’t in the US
With the online safety act to be implemented very soon, this is going to end in tears for the United Kingdom.
Bet he’s already selling UK intelligence to putin. He probably just picked up where he left off on his last stint.
If anything America does comes as a ‘shock’ at this point, it’s on us. They’re aligned with Russia, they’ve made this abundantly clear though their actions and their words. Time we listened and acted accordingly.
This is the same UK that demanded apple provide an encryption backdoor* on servers which are largely hosted in the *checks notes* US.
Right. Got it.
*for the good guys only†
†Impossible, cryptography doesn’t work like that.
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