The UK’s Secretary of State for Defence has reportedly warned Russia that they will retaliate with cyber attacks if the Kremlin targets British networks.
The House of Commons statement from Ben Wallace follows President Putin’s order to Russian troops to invade the separatist Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
“I’m a soldier – I was always taught the best part of defence is offense,” Wallace is reported to have said in the Commons.
The statement comes after weeks of build military build up on the Ukraine-Russia border.
The National Cyber Force (NCF), the UK’s offensive cyber operations unit, first appeared in 2018 and drew personnel from GCHQ, the Ministry of Defence, MI6 and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL).
The unit is said to be in line for £5bn in funding to aid in its “legal, ethical and proportionate” goal to disrupt hostile states, terrorists and criminals threatening the UK’s national security.
