News / Russia / Foreign Policy

UK blames Russian military intel for cyber attacks

Thursday, 04 October 2018 2:11 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 04 October 2018 2:17 AM ]

British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt (C) looks out of a helicopter window on September 20, 2018.

The United Kingdom is pointing the finger at the Russian military intelligence for a number of "reckless" cyber attacks in recent years.

The British National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) announced Wednesday that the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU) has been behind several high profile cyber-attacks.

The NCSC said with “high confidence” that the GRU was “almost certainly responsible,” citing the 2017 BadRabbit ransomware attack in Europe, the 2016 Democratic National Committee (DNC) hack and a summer 2015 hack of emails from a UK-based TV station.

We have identified that a number of cyber actors widely known to have been conducting attacks around the world are, in fact, the GRU.
Read the Foreign Secretary’s statement here: https://t.co/eBXQH88MW6 @jeremyhunt @foreignoffice pic.twitter.com/Y7XOiQR0L4
— NCSC UK (@NCSC) October 3, 2018

“The GRU’s actions are reckless and indiscriminate: they try to undermine and interfere in elections in other countries; they are even prepared to damage Russian companies and Russian citizens," British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a statement. "This pattern of behavior demonstrates their desire to operate without regard to international law or established norms and to do so with a feeling of impunity and without consequences."

Millions of people across several countries have allegedly been impacted by the attacks that have cost national economies millions.