ORAC
15th Apr 2018, 03:49
Russian threat to wage dirty campaign against Britain’s elite (https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russian-threat-to-wage-dirty-campaign-against-britains-elite-vn6trrc29)
Spy chiefs are braced for a Russian revenge attack in which Kremlin-backed hackers release embarrassing information on ministers, MPs and other high-profile people.
Theresa May has received intelligence risk assessments since the nerve-agent attack in Salisbury that the Putin regime could hit back with “kompromat” (compromising material) on members of her cabinet.....
Security sources said yesterday Britain was prepared to launch an offensive cyber-attack against Russia if it targeted the UK’s critical national infrastructure.
Details of the preparations came after Theresa May told The Sunday Times she was prepared to order a new crackdown on Russian oligarchs in London, and Downing Street officials said cronies of Vladimir Putin could face further economic sanctions.....
May has been warned that politicians could be singled out in a Russian counter-attack, as Hillary Clinton was during the last US presidential election. Britain’s cyber-intelligence agency, GCHQ, and the Ministry of Defence are on standby to retaliate “proportionately”.
Cyber-experts have already “pre-positioned” inside the computer networks of Russian targets. “We know what’s in the Russian playbook, kompromat type material, we’re all prepared for that,” the source said. “We know that they do have that ability to penetrate at that scale. We’re not saying that there’s a picture of ‘X’ that’s waiting to come out but it’ll be amazing to us if they don’t have some of that kind of material.”
Preparations have been made to retaliate in kind if Moscow targets critical facilities such as the National Grid and the NHS, both of which are on high alert for cyber-intrusions. An intelligence source said: “It wouldn’t be impossible that they get through in some way that really hurts us. If they aggressively come after us, we will certainly have the ability to do some stuff to them. But unlike Russia, we abide by the law, so anything we do would be proportionately done.”
The second source agreed: “They’re more likely to revert to targeted information and try and cause as much embarrassment and chaos as possible.”
In a sign that May is gearing up for a continuing confrontation with Moscow, the prime minister explicitly linked the airstrikes to the Russian nerve agent attack in Salisbury and made clear that Britain is prepared to take further steps to rein in Kremlin aggression......
The prime minister told The Sunday Times the government would target cronies of Putin who have “illicit finances” in London. “We are looking at every aspect of the action that can be taken,” she said. A Downing Street source added: “You are going to see extensive action on financial measures against Russian oligarchs in the UK shortly.”
Spy chiefs are braced for a Russian revenge attack in which Kremlin-backed hackers release embarrassing information on ministers, MPs and other high-profile people.
Theresa May has received intelligence risk assessments since the nerve-agent attack in Salisbury that the Putin regime could hit back with “kompromat” (compromising material) on members of her cabinet.....
Security sources said yesterday Britain was prepared to launch an offensive cyber-attack against Russia if it targeted the UK’s critical national infrastructure.
Details of the preparations came after Theresa May told The Sunday Times she was prepared to order a new crackdown on Russian oligarchs in London, and Downing Street officials said cronies of Vladimir Putin could face further economic sanctions.....
May has been warned that politicians could be singled out in a Russian counter-attack, as Hillary Clinton was during the last US presidential election. Britain’s cyber-intelligence agency, GCHQ, and the Ministry of Defence are on standby to retaliate “proportionately”.
Cyber-experts have already “pre-positioned” inside the computer networks of Russian targets. “We know what’s in the Russian playbook, kompromat type material, we’re all prepared for that,” the source said. “We know that they do have that ability to penetrate at that scale. We’re not saying that there’s a picture of ‘X’ that’s waiting to come out but it’ll be amazing to us if they don’t have some of that kind of material.”
Preparations have been made to retaliate in kind if Moscow targets critical facilities such as the National Grid and the NHS, both of which are on high alert for cyber-intrusions. An intelligence source said: “It wouldn’t be impossible that they get through in some way that really hurts us. If they aggressively come after us, we will certainly have the ability to do some stuff to them. But unlike Russia, we abide by the law, so anything we do would be proportionately done.”
The second source agreed: “They’re more likely to revert to targeted information and try and cause as much embarrassment and chaos as possible.”
In a sign that May is gearing up for a continuing confrontation with Moscow, the prime minister explicitly linked the airstrikes to the Russian nerve agent attack in Salisbury and made clear that Britain is prepared to take further steps to rein in Kremlin aggression......
The prime minister told The Sunday Times the government would target cronies of Putin who have “illicit finances” in London. “We are looking at every aspect of the action that can be taken,” she said. A Downing Street source added: “You are going to see extensive action on financial measures against Russian oligarchs in the UK shortly.”