The UK Ministry of Defence has said that hackers linked to Russia attempted to hack into the accounts of the department’s employees masquerading as journalists. The attack was thwarted, Sky News reported.
The first wave of phishing emails mimicked journalistic requests, while the second was financial in nature and directed hacked computers to a commercial file-sharing site, Sky News said.
The attack took about an hour to detect. The malware was allegedly linked to the Russian hacking group RomCom in the UK.
The attack came to light after Defence Secretary John Gili announced his intention to strengthen the UK’s offensive cyber capabilities to counter enemy states including Russia and China. The announcement comes as part of a review of UK defence policy.
“The nature of warfare is changing the keyboard has become a weapon of war,” Gili told reporters during a visit to the Wiltshire facility where the team that repelled the Russian cyberattack is based.
According to Gili, the military will spend more than one billion pounds on artificial intelligence systems and personnel to fight hackers. Offensive operations will take place through a new cyber and electromagnetic command, as well as a modernised guidance system using a “web of destruction” developed from artificial intelligence.
Last week, Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre accused the Fancy Bear group, which is linked to Russian military intelligence, of accessing 10,000 video cameras. London claims that Russian hackers could have tracked arms shipments from Europe to Ukraine.