Dominic Raab accuses Russia of ‘sheltering’ criminal cyber gangs who are using attacks to ‘steal, sabotage and ransack’ the West and ‘want to undermine the very foundations of our democracy’ as oil pipeline hack cripples US
- Raab speaking at National Cyber Security Centre’s CYBERUK conference today
- Says authoritarian regimes are using technology to attack international system
- Reveals 80 universities/schools hit by ransomware after reopening in March
Dominic Raab accused Russia of sheltering criminal cyber gangs who are working to undermine Western democracy today.
The Foreign Secretary lasted out at Vladimir Putin’s autocratic regime and Communist China as he revealed the level of threats facing the UK and its allies.
In a speech this morning he revealed 80 UK schools, colleges and universities were hit by ransomware attacks when they prepared to return to face-to-face teaching in March.
And he cited the ongoing major ransomware attack linked to Russian cyber criminals that has hit petrol supplies across a large swathe of the United States.
The Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 40 per cent of the fuel for the East Coast, was shut down for a fifth consecutive day today.
‘Let’s be very clear about it; when states like Russia have criminals or gangs operating from their territory they cannot wave their hands and say nothing to do with them,’ he told the National Cyber Security Centre’s CYBERUK conference.
‘Even if it is not directly linked to the state they have a responsibility to prosecute those gangs and those individuals, not to shelter them.’
The Foreign Secretary will outline how authoritarian regimes such as North Korea, Iran, Russia and China are using technology to sabotage, steal and ransack the international system.
Eighty schools, colleges and universities were hit by ransomware attacks when they prepared to return to face-to-face teaching in March, Mr Raab will say in a speech this morning.
Mr Raab accused Russia, China, North Korea and Iran of working to ‘sabotage, steal and ransack the international system’.
He said that 723 major incidents and 700,000 online scams had been halted in the UK in the past year.
‘Some of this activity is aimed at theft and extortion, but it all too often is simply focused on sabotage and disruption. It is worth saying these actors are the industrial scale vandals of the 21st century. But that doesn’t mean it is random,’ he added.
‘These hostile state actors, the criminal gangs, want to undermine the very foundations of our democracy.’
Mr Raab warned that cyber attacks pose a ‘real risk on a daily basis’, while the UK uses its capabilities to defend citizens and safeguard international collaborations.
The Foreign Secretary told the conference there is a ‘need to clarify’ how rules around cyber activity are enforced.
And he called for a ‘wider agreement on how to respond to those states who commit malicious cyber attacks’.
The Colonial Pipeline runs from Texas to New Jersey and carries 100 million gallons of fuel daily
It came as a major ransomware attack on a key petrol pipeline in the US was linked to a Russian military intelligence unit by the FBI.
President Biden on Monday said there wasn’t evidence that Russia was involved, despite the FBI pointing the finger at DarkSide, which has gone after numerous US and European companies but refrained from going after Russia.
The FBI on Monday confirmed that DarkSide was responsible for the attack on Colonial Pipeline that has experts fearing widespread gas shortages and significant price hikes.
The cybercrime outfit – which insists it has no political connections – has already boasted that it has been paid millions of dollars in ransom from 80 companies across the US and Europe.