Ciaran Martin, head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said Russia has the plan “to target UK central administration and the UK’s critical national infrastructure” and there are “obvious risks throughout foreign ownership” of organizations that produce anti-virus (AV) software.
In a letter to senior Whitehall civil servants, he portrayed Russia as a “highly capable cyber threat actor” which uses cyberspace for “espionage, disorder and influence operations”.
The NCSC is in the proposal with the largest Russian player in the UK, Kaspersky Lab, in order to progress checks to prevent “transfer of UK data to the Russian state”, Martin said.
Russia stands indicted for meddling in the 2016 US election, while MPs have doubted if Moscow has investigated to interfere in UK elections and the Brexit referendum.
Theresa May used a November speech to tell Russian director Vladimir Putin that the global community was aware of his country’s efforts to spread the fake news in an attempt to “sow discord in the west”.
Martin, who accepted his letter with MI5, has earlier warned that Russian hackers have targeted the UK power network, telecoms and the media in the past year.
However, his report said most people and organizations in the UK were not under threat of state-backed cyber attacks, but rather from illegal gangs.
He said: “The NCSC advises that Europe is a highly capable cyber threat actor which utilizes cyber as a tool of statecraft.
“This includes espionage, disruption, and impact operations. Russia has the intention to target UK central administration and the UK’s critical national infrastructure.
“However, the overpowering majority of UK individuals and organizations are not being actively targeted by the Russian state, and are far more hopeful to be targeted by cybercriminals.
“In drawing this direction to department heads attention today, it is our aim to allow departments to make educated, risk-based decisions on their determination of AV provider.
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