The UK is unprepared and vulnerable to Russian cyber attacks. Here’s why
The UK is unprepared and vulnerable to Russian cyber attacks. Here’s why
Posted by theipaper
The UK is unprepared and vulnerable to Russian cyber attacks. Here’s why
The UK is unprepared and vulnerable to Russian cyber attacks. Here’s why
Posted by theipaper
5 comments
The UK Government is at “critical risk” of [cyber attack](https://inews.co.uk/topic/cyber-attacks?srsltid=AfmBOopDGip6iqgYI2kEdiO0kBCM6Vv-o5XhnenTPrRVlKhUSOb-mkUR&ico=in-line_link) and is not able to keep up with rapidly evolving threats from hostile states.
Four senior Cabinet Office officials have said years of inactivity, underfunding, and recruitment problems have exposed the UK to a growing threat of [cyber warfare](https://inews.co.uk/topic/cyber-security?srsltid=AfmBOoqjyvRH3xrBnwcbt0a_6d5YMNmKsJ8rGXaDKnJQsiVFUODd-lvX&ico=in-line_link) from hostile states and international criminals.
As part of a parliamentary probe into UK resilience, the officials said government departments are languishing with vulnerable legacy IT systems and a lack of expertise in how to defend themselves.
Bella Powell, cyber director at the Government Security Group (GSG) – a small taskforce within the Cabinet Office aimed at protecting government departments – said resilience levels across the UK are “substantially lower” than anticipated, while the “escalating threat” from hostile states such as [Russia ](https://inews.co.uk/topic/russia?ico=in-line_link)and [China ](https://inews.co.uk/topic/china?ico=in-line_link)have become a “substantial risk”.
She added: “The sum total is that we are at critical risk at the moment.”
Cat Little, the Permanent Secretary at Cabinet Office, and chief operating officer at Civil Service, said officials are “running against the tide” to fill the gap between the threat from cyber attacks and UK defences.
“In order to keep pace, we are having to work twice or three times as hard to evolve and constantly be as on the front foot as possible, but my honest assessment is that there always will be a gap,” she said.
The comments came during an evidence session at Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) scrutinising the UK’s preparedness for a catastrophic cyber attack. The session examined the findings of a 2024 report on the issue by the National Audit Office (NAO) which found UK resilience lacking on several fronts.
This was painfully clear during Brexit and Boris refused to investigate the cyber attacks from them if you recall.
And now there is a gaping hole in individual security, this is incredibly scary
Something for Labour to be spending some of that defense budget increase on.
A huge amount of information can be gleaned from things that might be deemed fairly innocuous like supply reports. Eg. If we’re spending more money on screwdriver – small, the enemy might well interpret that as we’re preparing to repair more drones which implies we’re using more drones so they need to step up their anti-drone defenses.
Hacking such things out of enemy databases is just another form of recon.
Oh that is a shame, it’s not like the United Kingdom is going to introduce an act coming in this week which is going to put everyone at a security and privacy at risk is it?
Oh wait…
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