Missiles, drones and tanks dominate the headlines when it comes to Russia’s war against Ukraine. But there is a growing, borderless threat – and Britain is already on the front line.
Russia is targeting everything that keeps the UK functioning: hospitals, telecoms, companies and other vital components of critical national infrastructure (CNI). Airports, power plants, even the nuclear deterrent are all likely targets for Moscow’s escalating cyber warfare campaign.
In the past year, the UK’s CNI was hit by more than 200 major cyber incidents, and hostile states including Russia are now increasingly targeting the systems behind key services, according to Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), an arm of GCHQ. He warned in April that the UK could face “hacktivist attacks at scale” if it were dragged into a war.
Shorts
Those 200 major attacks were more than double the year before, Dan Jarvis, the new Defence Secretary, said in April. “That number tells me the front line isn’t coming – it’s here,” he added.
