As government warns of cyber war with Russia, what are cyber attacks?
Nato countries including the UK are involved in a “hidden cyber war” with Russia, the government has warned, ahead of a speech set to warn that Vladimir Putin is prepared to launch a series of cyber attacks as it seeks to weaken support for Ukraine.
Work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall called for vigilance amid the threat of cyber war with Russia, saying: "We have to be absolutely vigilant in that as a government, but also in businesses and wider society to protect against those cyber hacktivists."
Her comments on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips programme come ahead of a major speech by chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden this week, in which he is set to say Moscow will “not think twice” about exploiting defence gaps to target UK businesses.
In a speech to the Nato cyber defence conference at Lancaster House, McFadden is expected to warn that cyber interference enables Russia to “turn the lights off for millions of people” and represents the “hidden war” it is waging against Ukraine.
He will say: "Given the scale of that hostility, my message to members today is clear: no-one should underestimate the Russian cyber threat to Nato. The threat is real. Russia is exceptionally aggressive and reckless in the cyber realm.”
Speaking on Sunday, Kendall said her colleague was right to say “there is not only the open military war with Russia as the aggressor, but there is also a hidden cyber war and that Russia will do everything in its power to destabilise not only within Ukraine but amongst the Nato allies”.
What is a cyber attack?
According to the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a cyber attack is: "an attempt to damage, disrupt or gain unauthorised access to computer systems, networks or devices".
A description on the NATO website in describes cyber threats as "complex, destructive and coercive" and "becoming ever more frequent".
It says: "Cyberspace is contested at all times and malicious cyber events occur every day, from low-level to technologically sophisticated attacks."
Cyber attacks can take various forms, from hacking into government systems to causing chaos by affecting infrastructure and other systems, such as examples given in McFadden's speech, in which he will say: “Military hard-power is one thing. But cyber war can be destabilising and debilitating.
"With a cyber attack, Russia can turn the lights off for millions of people. It can shut down the power grids. This is the hidden war Russia is waging with Ukraine."
Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at software company ESET, told Yahoo News UK: "The UK remains a target for state-sponsored attacks with countries such as Russia being very active in cyber espionage and surveillance.
"Cyberattacks at this level are aimed at stealing sensitive government and business information, disrupting critical infrastructure or even conducting espionage and therefore needs no expense spared when it comes to the defence budget.
"Nation state attacks can often be extremely difficult to defend against but the level of disruption can be limited when extra resources are placed to mitigate the intrusion and restrict the damage.
"Targeting critical infrastructure has always been a worry but the level and sophistication in cyberattacks has dramatically increased over the last few years and with the added use of artificial intelligence, attacks are now becoming harder to control."
Have there been previous cyber attacks on the UK?
McFadden is expected to specifically call out Unit 29155, a Russian military unit the government says was previously found to have carried out a number of attacks in the UK and Europe.
In September, a joint defence briefing by Western intelligence agencies accused Unit 29155 of carrying out attacks designed to disrupt efforts to aid Ukraine in resisting Russia's full-scale invasion.
McFadden will also refer in his speech to gangs of “unofficial hacktivists” and mercenaries not directly under the Kremlin’s control “but who are allowed to act with impunity so long as they’re not working against Putin’s interests”.
Last month, pro-Russian hackers claimed to have targeted several councils in a cyber attack, saying it had hit the council websites including Salford, Bury, Trafford and Tameside with a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, flooding the websites with internet traffic to put them out of use.
Salford, Bury and Trafford councils confirmed their web pages were temporarily affected by a cyber attack.
South Korea - which is a Nato Indo-Pacific partner - was also said to have been targeted in response to its monitoring of the deployment of North Korean troops to Kursk, where Russia is fighting against Ukraine.
The attack was widely attributed to a pro-Kremlin cyber gang, with McFadden warning that such groups act with “disregard” for geopolitics and “just one miscalculation could wreak havoc on our networks”.
How can the UK protect against a cyber attack?
Speaking on Sunday, Kendall said the government had been focusing on “making sure we have all the protections we need including cyber protections".
McFadden is also expected to set out details of how the UK will aim to boost its protections against emerging cyber threats, as well as how the country is stepping up work with Nato allies.
He and senior national security officials will also meet business leaders next week to discuss how they can protect themselves.
The National Cyber Security Centre publishes extensive information on how individuals, businesses and organisations can work to protect themselves from cyber attacks. Measures include protection software, as well as measures to detect possible cyber attacks, and educating people on possible threats.
Jake Moore told Yahoo: "Infiltration techniques used by collaborating law enforcement agencies continue to disrupt criminal networks with monitoring communication channels where possible.
"Furthermore, increased spending on cyber awareness training, improved simulation attacks and better backup procedures including removing legacy software and hardware also help mitigate the risk."
