UK accuses Russian FSB of attempts to interfere in political processes
Photo: Britain accuses Russian FSB of attempting to interfere in political processes (Getty Images)
The government of the United Kingdom has accused Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) of attempting to interfere in political processes through cyberattacks. The British Foreign Ministry has summoned Russian Ambassador Andrey Kelin, reports BBC.
In particular, Leo Docherty, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, stated that sanctions have been imposed against two individuals from the Star Blizzard hacker group, one of whom is an active FSB officer.
The group, affiliated with the FSB's Center 18 division in Russia, is accused of carrying out hundreds of targeted cyberattacks on British politicians, government officials, employees of analytical centers, journalists, scientists, and other public figures.
The hackers targeted the private email accounts of individuals after conducting thorough research and creating fake accounts posing as their contacts.
It is noted that this group focused on data breaches, while other individuals distributed the obtained data through various channels.
In February, British Parliament member Stuart McDonald revealed that his email was hacked, with the attacker posing as one of his staff members. He made the information public to prevent any leakage of electronic correspondence.
"This group has acquired a vast amount of data. This information is used to undermine the West in various ways," said Western officials.
It's worth mentioning that Britain had previously accused Russia of interference in the 2019 elections. This accusation followed the theft of trade documents between the U.S. and the UK from Conservative MP Liam Fox, which were later leaked online. However, Britain has not yet identified those responsible for the incident.
Cyberattacks by Russia
Recall that earlier, we reported that a facility for nuclear waste disposal and decommissioning in Sellafield, United Kingdom, which is considered extremely hazardous, was compromised by cybergroups closely linked to Russia and China.
Also, on October 30, it became known that the Russian Clop hacker group gained access to the email addresses of around 632,000 U.S. federal employees in the Departments of Defense and Justice.
After the Bulgarian government announced assistance to Ukraine in the form of 100 armored vehicles, Russian hackers from the Noname057 (16) group disrupted the operation of the Bulgarian parliament's website.
Furthermore, Italy's Cybersecurity Agency detected hacker attacks on the websites of at least five banks in August. These attacks were attributed to the Russian hacking group NoName057(16).
