UK denounces Russia's cyber espionage against prominent politicians, government officials, journalists

As it attempted to use hacking to meddle in the nation’s political processes, the UK government on Thursday denounced repeated attempts by Russia’s secret service to jeopardize the private conversations of prominent politicians, government employees, and journalists. The UK has been the target of several cyber espionage operations carried out by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) unit, Centre 18, according to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). It stated that the UK and its allies had discovered a number of attempts by the FSB to use cyber operations to target well-known people and organizations, and that they believed this was done with the intention of using the information obtained to meddle in UK politics and democratic processes. The Foreign Office summoned the Russian Ambassador to express the UK’s deep concern about Russia’s sustained attempts to use cyber to interfere in political and democratic processes in the UK and beyond. Russia’s attempts to interfere in UK politics are completely unacceptable and seek to threaten our democratic processes. Despite their repeated efforts, they have failed, said UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron. In sanctioning those responsible and summoning the Russian Ambassador today, we are exposing their malign attempts at influence and shining a light on yet another example of how Russia chooses to operate on the global stage. We will continue to work together with our allies to expose Russian covert cyber activity and hold Russia to account for its actions, he said. In particular, FCDO said it has identified the FSB through activity conducted by Star Blizzard and involving: targeting, including spear-phishing, of parliamentarians from multiple political parties, from at least 2015 through to this year; the hack of UK-US trade documents that were leaked ahead of the 2019 general election; the 2018 hack of the Institute for Statecraft, a UK think tank whose work included initiatives to defend democracy against disinformation, and the more recent hack of its founder Christopher Donnelly, whose account was compromised from December 2021; and targeting of universities, journalists, public sector, NGOs and other civil society organisations, many of whom play a key role in UK democracy. UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden said: As I warned earlier this year, state actors, and the Wagner-style’ sub-state hackers they use to do their dirty work, will continue to target our public institutions and our democratic processes. We will continue to call this activity out, to raise our defences, and to take action against the perpetrators. Online is the new frontline. We are taking a whole-of-society approach to ensuring we have the robust systems and cutting-edge skills needed to resist these attempts to undermine our democracy. Following a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation, the British government has sanctioned two members of Star Blizzard for their involvement in the preparation of spear-phishing campaigns and associated activity that resulted in unauthorised access and exfiltration of sensitive data. The men are Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko, a Russian FSB intelligence officer and a member of Star Blizzard, and Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, a.k.a. Alexey DOGUZHIEV, also a member of Star Blizzard. According to the FCDO, Star Blizzard is also commonly known as Callisto Group, SEABORGIUM or COLDRIVER and is operated by FSB officers. The group has also selectively leaked and amplified the release of information in line with Russian confrontation goals, including undermining trust in politics in the UK and like-minded states. In a statement to Parliament on Thursday, Minister for Europe Leo Docherty emphasised that attempts to interfere with UK politics and democracy have not been successful. However, Russia and other adversaries will likely continue to make attempts to use cyber means to interfere in UK politics. The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) alongside the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada is set to publish a cyber security advisory to inform network defenders of how to mitigate this activity. An attack against our democratic institutions is an attack on our most fundamental British values and freedoms. The UK will not tolerate foreign interference and through the National Security Act, we are making the UK a harder operating environment for those seeking to interfere in our democratic institutions, said Home Secretary James Cleverly. The activity has been described by the FCDO as being part of a broader pattern of malign cyber activity conducted by Russian intelligence services across the globe. (with inputs from PTI)