Russia moving cyber threats ‘beyond the battlefield’

Russia is deploying cyber techniques used in the war in Ukraine “beyond the battlefield”, it has been warned.

Richard Horne, chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, said the UK faced a “perfect storm” of cybersecurity threats, with growing risks from hostile states such as China, Iran and Russia.

Horne warned attackers were growing increasingly sophisticated with the NCSC handing “four nationally significant” incidents a week.

Addressing the CYBERUK conference in Glasgow, he said developments in artificial intelligence (AI) and geopolitical tensions were giving rising to a period of “tumultuous uncertainty”. 

Horne said there had been a change in where the attacks were coming from, with most nationally significant incidents originating “directly or indirectly from nation states”.

He said: “We know that China’s intelligence and military agencies now display an eye-watering level of sophistication in their cyber operations.

“This, combined with their whole-of-state approach, means we face more than just a capable cyber threat but a peer competitor in cyber space.”

Horne said Iran was using cyber activity to “support the repression of British individuals on our streets” who are seen as being a threat to the regime in Tehran.

“And we know that Russia is taking the cyber lessons it has learnt in a theatre of war and is moving them beyond the battlefield,” he said.

He added: “The tactics and techniques honed in conflict are now being directed at states it considers hostile.

“Working with our partners, including the National Protective Security Authority, we are seeing sustained Russian hybrid activity targeting assets across the UK and Europe.”

Horne said the UK had a “unique window” to learn how cyber operations had been used in conflict and “shore up our resilience at home”.