Minister to issue sobering warning about Putin’s ‘cyber army’ in the UK

Yvette Cooper will deliver a sobering speech today, setting out actions the UK is taking against cyber threats, interference and disinformation pushed by the Kremlin.

In the last months, cyber attacks and sabotage of critical infrastructure across Europe have been waged in a bid to undermine Western interests and ‘interfere in our democracies’.

Just days ago, police launched an investigation into mystery drones spotted over Ireland during Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to the country.

Closer to the Eastern Bloc, NATO fighter jets have been launched after Russian drones were spotted on the border with Romania,

These types of provocations and acts of sabotage are only increasing, and Cooper will warn about how today’s technology allows foreign actors with less skill to work on behalf of regimes abroad.

The UK has already taken action to disrupt these efforts to sow chaos in British society with sanctions, increased defense spending and attributing the covert actions to Russia.

Is the UK doing enough to deter foreign influence?

Ahead of Cooper’s speech today, Chatham House Russia expert Keir Giles told Metro: ‘Speeches are all very well, but Russia will only respond to action.

‘Sanctions can be highly effective, but it depends on the enforcement and the agility with which they adapt to sanctions-breaking efforts. And you cannot name and shame a country that is feeling no shame whatsoever and is not deterred by any reputational damage.’

Earlier this year, Keir Starmer announced plans to increase UK defense spending by £13,400,000,000 from 2027.

Giles warns these ‘incremental’ increases in spending are not enough to keep up with British defense spending commitments.

‘Russia can see this, and there is less and less cause to take the UK seriously as a military power,’ he adds.

A parliamentary report in November found that Britain’s military has been shrinking for years, with warnings that the Ministry of defense (MoD) has no ‘credible plan’ to fund the armed forces the government wants, leaving the nation vulnerable.

‘None of this matches the scale and intensity and urgency of the challenge, and we have yet to see whether all of the words that have come from the current government are going to be reinforced by meaningful action, or if the government is still under the impression that saying is as good as doing, and they don’t actually have to follow through,’ Giles added.

A ‘renewed international focus’ on information warfare

In her speech, Cooper will point to interference in elections and ‘flooding social media with generative AI and manipulated videos’ as among the actions being carried out by the West’s enemies.

A renewed international focus on ‘information warfare’ is needed, she will say. Yet Giles points out that Russia has been probing the West’s ‘red line’ through information warfare for decades, with no credible response issued against the Kremlin yet.

‘As fast as Russia escalates, the West retreats. This has expanded the space within which Russia feels it is safe to operate by showing that there is no willingness to impose meaningful costs and consequences on Russia for undeniable warlike acts,’ he added.

Calling these attempts to probe the ‘red line’ as ‘hybrid’ warfare is misleading, Giles added.

‘It would be far better to describe these as deniable actions, but importantly, not deniable in the sense that they are concealed, but deniable in that they allow Western governments to pretend they are not happening,’ he said.

Recent cyber attacks in the UK

Cyber attacks in the UK have been attributed to Russia before. Earlier this year, Transport for London said it was dealing with a ‘cyber security incident’.

Transport infrastructure has increasingly become a target for cyber attacks as tensions between Russia and the rest of Europe rise.

If hacks are successful, they could have disruptive, destabilising or even deadly effects.

Last month, Metro revealed that Russian hackers broke into a prestigious IVF clinic used by thousands of couples across the UK in a huge data breach.

Qilin, a crime organisation based in Russia, is believed to be behind the attack, and was also responsible for a ransomware attack on NHS hospitals in June, which affected blood transfusions and test results.

Qilin has been known to post stolen data on the dark web when its victims fail to pay a ransom.

What is the UK government doing to combat information warfare?

The Foreign Secretary will set out a series of actions which have been taken against cyber threats, interference and disinformation propagated by hostile states in a speech today.

Sanctions against Russia have already been implemented, and the UK has strongly condemned the Kremlin’s information warfare campaign in Western democracies.

Earlier this year, the government announced a £1 billion plan to build a cyber army taking the fight to Vladimir Putin’s digital doorstep.  

In general, the government has remained tight-lipped about the cyber operation.

What we know is that it will operate by using AI and new software. It will connect military weapons systems across all three forces, enabling quicker decisions to be made on the battlefield.

For example, it could identify a threat using a sensor on a ship or in space and then disable it using an F-35 aircraft, drone, or offensive cyber operation, the Ministry of defense said.

Further plans could be revealed today during Cooper’s speech.

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