UK ‘has launched clandestine attacks on Russia’, former national security chief claims

‘We can’t leave the initiative to our adversaries’, former cabinet secretary says

Lord Sedwill, who stepped down from his position as cabinet secretary and national security adviser last month (PA)

The UK has launched a series of clandestine attacks on Russian interests in a show of retaliation over a string of international transgressions, according to a former national security adviser.

Lord Sedwill, who stepped down from his position as cabinet secretary last month, told Times Radio a “series of discreet measures” had been used to “impose a price greater than one they might have expected”. It is the first time a senior British official has confirmed such tactics.

The UK was reported to be in the early stages of developing its cyberwarfare capabilities back in January, with National Cyber Force, operated by the Ministry of Defence and GCHQ, the first organisation in Britain dedicated solely to offensive action against adversaries abroad.

In September, the British Military was said to be besieged by 60 cyberattacks per day according to General Sir Patrick Sanders, who has been tasked with turning the UK into a "full-spectrum cyberpower” with defensive and offensive armouries.

Asked why Russia had not been met with the force of the nation’s offensive cyber technologies, Mr Sedwill is reported to have told the radio station: “The fact you don’t see that we use it doesn’t mean that we don’t.

“Russia is operating in what the aficionados call grey space – that gap between normal state relations and armed conflict with cyberattacks, information warfare and disruption campaigns.

“It is important that we are capable of manoeuvring in the grey space and doing so effectively. We can’t leave the initiative to our adversaries.

“There are some vulnerabilities that we can exploit too – we just don’t talk about those.”

Mr Sedwill resigned from his role as chief national security adviser and cabinet secretary surrounded by rumours he had been forced out of his role by Dominic Cummings, the prime minister’s top aide.

His comments come after UK officials accused Moscow of carrying out a series of cyberattacks on the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo — with UK and allied intelligence services uncovering a plot by Russian counterpart GRU to disguise itself as Chinese and North Korean hackers in “false-flag” operations.

The agency has also been accused of conducting the Salisbury novichok poisoning in 2018, the hacking of the US Democratic National Committee’s computers during the 2016 US election campaign, and cyberattacks on the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said at the time: “The GRU’s actions against the Olympic and Paralympic Games are cynical and reckless. We condemn them in the strongest possible terms. The UK will continue to work with our allies to call out and counter future malicious cyberattacks.”