UK spies waging cyber attacks to ‘weaken adversaries’ including Russia and Iran

GCHQ chief says Britain ‘must be able to contest and compete with adversaries in cyberspace’

Sir Jeremy Fleming (Owen Humphreys/PA) (PA Archive)

British spies are waging cyber attacks on Russia, Iran and other hostile states that aim to “weaken adversaries” and sow mistrust.

GCHQ has revealed details of the UK’s National Cyber Force (NCF), which it says carries out cyber operations on a daily basis to protect against threats to the UK, including espionage, terrorism and serious crime.

With weeks to go until England’s local elections, the intelligence agency said the secretive unit was also working to “reduce the threat of external interference in democratic elections”.