UK warns of potential Russian cyberattacks on Britain - The Telegraph

The Telegraph specifies that British Cabinet Minister Pat McFadden will make this warning at a NATO conference on Monday.

He will state that Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready and capable of delivering a “destabilizing and debilitating” electronic strike on the UK.

"Russia is exceptionally aggressive and reckless in the cyber realm' and wants to gain a 'strategic advantage and degrade the states that support Ukraine," the publication quotes McFadden's expected remarks.

In addition, McFadden will address the imminent threat of a Russian cyberattack on British infrastructure and businesses, which could "lead to power grid failures" and deal a devastating blow to the economy.

Speaking at the NATO Cyber Defense Conference in London on Monday, he will add that over the past year, Russian military forces and their "unofficial army of cybercriminals and hacktivists" have not only intensified their attacks but also expanded their target list to include several NATO member states and partners.

"In the UK, Russia has targeted our media, our telecoms, our political and democratic institutions, and our energy infrastructure. Military hard power is one thing. But cyber war can be destabilizing and debilitating. With a cyber attack, Russia can turn the lights off for millions of people. It can shut down the power grids. This is the hidden war Russia is waging with Ukraine," McFadden will say.

The warning will come just days after Putin claimed that his military could strike the UK in response to Ukraine's use of British-made Storm Shadow missiles.

On Thursday, November 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia allegedly carried out a combined strike on a Ukrainian defense facility in the city of Dnipro. According to him, this was in retaliation for the approval given by Ukraine's Western partners, including the US and the UK, to strike Russian territory.

Putin asserts that a test of Russia's advanced medium-range missile system was conducted and that a ballistic missile, Oreshnik, was launched, but without a nuclear payload. Ukrainian military sources, however, reported that the enemy attacked Dnipro with an intercontinental ballistic missile from the Astrakhan region.