Kremlin hackers leak UK Ministry of Defence knowledge in ‘very damaging’ assault

Sep 02, 2023 at 10:29 PM
Kremlin hackers leak UK Ministry of Defence knowledge in ‘very damaging’ assault

Kremlin-linked hackers have leaked prime secret safety info referring to British army and intelligence websites, it has been claimed.

Thousands of pages’ value of information which may in concept allow criminals to get into nuclear submarine base HMNB Clyde and the chemical weapons lab at Porton Down are included, in accordance with experiences.

Details pertaining to high-security prisons in addition to a army web site important to the UK’s cyber defences have been additionally stolen by the LockBit group.

The databases of Zaun, a agency which makes fences for optimum safety websites, have been focused by the hackers earlier than being positioned on the web’s shady darkish net.

LockBit has been described because the world’s most harmful hacking gang, with suspects together with Mikhail Matveev, who’s on the FBI’s Most Wanted checklist after 1,400 assaults on targets all over the world, together with a failed £66million blackmail try on the Royal Mail.

Labour MP Kevan Jones, a member of the Commons Defence Select Committee, informed the Mirror: “This is potentially very damaging to the security of some of our most sensitive sites.”

Committee chairman Tory MP Tobias Ellwood mentioned: “How does this have an effect on the flexibility of our defence institutions to proceed functioning with out risk of assault?

“How can we higher defend ourselves from Russian-backed interference little question associated to our stance in supporting Ukraine?

“Finally, this is another example of how conflict is no longer limited to the traditional battlefield, it now includes the digital domain and is placing ever greater demands on security apparatus.”

LockBit is widely believed to have financial connections to Russian gangsters.

In one leaked document relating to equipment bought to shield Porton Down, Zaun calls its work there “very secretive”.

Another document provides details of a sales order for goods at HMNB Clyde – better known as Faslane, where Britain’s Trident nuclear subs are based.

There is also a sales order report for equipment at GCHQ’s communications complex in Bude, Cornwall. Bude is described as being “a critical part” of Britain’s security.

The leak also includes security equipment at RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, where the UK’s squadron of Reaper attack drones is based, as well Cawdor Barracks, whose 14th Signal Regiment handles electronic warfare.

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