Russia has been engaged in a systematic and malicious “global campaign” of cyber warfare targeting critical national infrastructure with Britain providing help to allied states to counter the threat, the foreign secretary is due to say in a keynote speech.
The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has been working with 16 other Nato states over the past 18 months to chart how Russia has been looking for vulnerabilities in cyber systems and seeking to compromise government networks, Jeremy Hunt will state.
Speaking at the Nato Cyber Defence Pledge Conference in London on Thursday, Mr Hunt is due to say: “We judge that Russia’s intelligence services are targeting the critical national infrastructure of many countries in order to look for vulnerabilities.
“This global campaign also seeks to compromise central government networks. I can disclose that in the last 18 months, the National Cyber Security Centre has shared information and assessments with 16 Nato allies – and even more nations outside the alliance – of Russian cyber activity in their countries.”
The meeting with the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and alliance ambassadors will be an opportunity for planning a common strategy, including diplomatic and political tools, to deal with the claimed Russian electronic offensive.
“The challenge today is therefore to apply the eternal verities at the heart of Nato’s success to the alliance’s newest operational domain. And that means deterrence – strengthening our joint ability to deter those who would harm our citizens in cyberspace,” Mr Hunt will say.
Pointing to Russian attempts at election interference in, among other places, Ukraine and the US, the foreign secretary will say: “Recent events demonstrate that our adversaries regard democratic elections as a key vulnerability of an open society.
“We must be crystal clear that any cyber operations designed to manipulate another country’s electoral system and alter the result would breach international law – and justify a proportionate response.”
Nato agreed at a Warsaw summit in 2016 to strengthen cyber defences as a matter of priority, and agreed that there should be an annual Cyber Defence Pledge Conference to facilitate sharing of experience and best practice.
The conference in London is the second such conference, with France holding the first in 2018.
