Is the UK at risk of Russian cyberattacks over Ukraine support?
Security chiefs warn British firms to brace for Moscow-linked cyber disruption

A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Organisations and large businesses across the UK are being urged to boost their defences against potential cyberattacks linked to tensions between Russia and Ukraine.
The warning from the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) came after director of operations Paul Chichester said the agency had “observed a pattern of malicious Russian behaviour in cyberspace”.
As 100,000 Russian troops mobilised near its border, Ukraine was hit by a “massive” cyberattack two weeks ago that “knocked out” the websites of several government departments including the ministries of foreign affairs and education, The Guardian reported.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Malignant force
Following the Ukraine cyberattack, officials pointed to a “long record” of Russian-linked online assaults against the country. The latest major strike came at the end of a week of security talks between Moscow and the US and its Western allies that “ended in stalemate”, said The Guardian.
The hackers reportedly left a message on the Foreign Ministry website that said: “Ukrainians! … All information about you has become public. Be afraid and expect worse. It’s your past, present and future.”
The message was accompanied by an image showing “the Ukrainian flag and map crossed out”, the newspaper added, and “mentioned the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, or UPA, which fought against the Soviet Union during the Second World War”.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said that “the cyber-police” had “opened an investigation” into the online attack.
Fears are growing that the UK and other countries lending support to Ukraine in the ongoing border stand-off may also be targeted by hackers.
The US Department of Homeland Security “is warning that Russia could conduct a cyberattack against the United States if it feels threatened by further actions the US takes in response to a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine”, CBS News reported this week.
In an intelligence and analysis bulletin seen by the broadcaster that was sent to law enforcement partners nationwide, the department said that Moscow might launch cyberattacks if “a US or Nato response to a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine threatened its long-term national security”.
“Russia maintains a range of offensive cyber tools that it could employ against US networks – from low-level denials of service to destructive attacks targeting critical infrastructure,” the bulletin continued.
The London-based National Cyber Security Centre, the defensive arm of the UK’s GCHQ intelligence agency, “said while the UK was not attributing responsibility for the recent cyber incidents in Ukraine, it was ‘urgently investigating’ them”, the Financial Times (FT) reported.
Operations director Chichester said it was “vital that organisations follow [cyber security] guidance to ensure they are resilient”. The “incidents in Ukraine bear the hallmarks of similar Russian activity we have observed before”, he added.
Vulnerable state
The updated guidance from the UK’s security experts advises large organisations and firms to “include patching systems, improve access controls and enable multifactor authentication” in their digital systems in order to reduce their cyberattack risk, The Independent reported.
Companies should also implement “an effective incident response plan, check that back-ups and restore mechanisms are working, ensure that online defences are working, and keep up to date with the latest threat and mitigation information”, the guidance said.
National Cyber Security Centre chief Lindy Cameron told a cyber conference last October that criminals based in Russia and neighbouring nations were responsible for most of the “devastating” ransomware attacks – when hackers block access to data and then demand payment to restore it – that had been waged against the UK.
“Hackney Borough Council was hit by one attack which led to significant disruption to services and IT systems going down for months,” the BBC reported. Ireland’s Health Service Executive “also suffered a significant attack”.
Attacks have ramped up in the US too, with a strike on the Colonial Pipeline company last year triggering “fuel shortages on the east coast”, the broadcaster added.
And Canada’s Foreign Affairs Ministry was hacked earlier this month, on “the same day that country’s top cyber agency warned of potential Russian attacks”, the FT reported.
The recent increase in cyber hostilities across the globe is “a sign of how a conflict in one part of the world can impact anyone, anywhere, because cyber weapons do not respect geographical boundaries”, said Sky News security and defence editor Deborah Haynes.
Such cyberattacks seem likely to become more common, “as a form of attack that can take place in a grey zone under the threshold of war or as part of a physical, military invasion”, she added.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Biden's first rodeo
cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
Biden's stumble
Cartoons
By The Week Staff Published
-
The daily gossip: Travis Kelce chats about Taylor Swift's Chiefs game visit, Hollywood writers thrilled with details of new contract as strike ends, and more
The daily gossip: September 27, 2023
By Brendan Morrow Published
-
Daniel Khalife escape: how secure are UK prisons?
Today's Big Question MPs and experts blame austerity cuts for chronic understaffing, overcrowding and inexperienced guards
By Harriet Marsden Published
-
Daniel Abed Khalife: how did terror suspect escape from Wandsworth prison?
Today's Big Question ‘Gob-smacking’ events raise urgent questions about state of UK’s criminal justice system
By Julia O'Driscoll Published
-
Lucy Letby: why wasn’t nurse caught sooner?
Today's Big Question Hospital bosses under fire amid claims multiple warnings and chances to stop serial killer were dismissed
By The Week Staff Published
-
PSNI breach: is the UK taking data security seriously enough?
Today's Big Question Accidental release of personal details of 10,000 Northern Irish police employees could have lethal consequences
By The Week Staff Published
-
Russia blamed for cyberattack that exposed UK voters’ data
Speed Read Electoral Commission has not formally identified ‘hostile actors’ behind massive breach but experts say Russians ‘top suspect list’
By Richard Windsor Published
-
‘Pig butchering’ and dodgy apps: four convincing scams to watch out for
Speed Read Consumer watchdog warns cybercriminals are becoming ‘more sophisticated’
By Julia O'Driscoll Published
-
Dark web marketplace that sold bank-hacking bots seized by FBI
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Ukrainian hackers’ hoax unmasks Russian pilots accused of Mariupol theatre bombing
Speed Read Military wives and girlfriends duped into posing for photoshoot in ‘virtual false-flag operation’
By Jamie Timson Published