The UK, Australia and New Zealand have accused Russia and rsquo;s military intelligence directorate (GRU) for cyber attacks around the world, including the hacking of the US Democratic National Committee in 2016. The UK, Australia and New Zealand are members of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing alliance, along with the US and Canada. The UK National Cyber Security Centre claims that targets of the attacks include Russia and rsquo;s central bank and two privately-owned Russian media outlets and ndash; Fontanka.ru and Interfax news agency. It also said the GRU was responsible for cyber attacks on Ukraine and rsquo;s Kiev metro and Odessa airport, the US Democratic Party, The World Anti-Doping Agency and an unnamed small TV network in the UK.

 

In a statement to the media, British foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt criticised the GRU and rsquo;s and ldquo;reckless and indiscriminate and rdquo; actions, accused the organisation of trying to interfere in foreign elections and claimed that the GRU was even prepared to harm Russian companies and Russian citizens. Moscow has not responded to the allegations, but Russian officials have consistently denied cyber campaigns attributed to Russian government actors and their alleged proxies. The UK government believes GRU operatives were behind a poisoning in Salisbury in March using a Novichok-type nerve agent. The incident has led to a deterioration in UK-Russia relations and attempts by the UK government to push back against what it perceives to be hostile and aggressive Russian government actions.

 

Source: https://www.pgitl.com