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Moscow has been accused by the UK government of interfering with its upcoming general election as part of a cyber espionage campaign.
The UK government said in a press release that it had uncovered that Russian Intelligence had attempted to target several high-profile individuals with cyber attacks, including civil servants, politicians and media.
It added that it believed this was part of a campaign to disrupt the next UK general election, which is expected in January 2024.
The finger is being pointed at Unit 18 of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), which is the successor agency to the KGB.
“The activity was in turn conducted by Star Blizzard, a group that the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) – a part of GCHQ – assesses is almost certainly subordinate to FSB Centre 18,” said the press release.
“While some attacks resulted in documents being leaked, attempts to interfere with UK politics and democracy have not been successful.”
Star Blizzard, which is more commonly referred to as the Callisto Group, SEABORGIUM or COLDDRIVER, is a threat group believed to be operated by the Russian FSB.
The campaign against UK democracy includes a number of incidents, including spear-phishing attacks on parliamentarians from multiple parties from at least 2015, hacking US-UK trade documents and leaking them prior to the 2019 general election, and the 2018 hacking of the Institute for Statecraft, which is a thinktank with the role of defending UK democracy from disinformation.
More recently, in December 2021, the founder of the Institute for Statecraft was hacked, which resulted in documents being leaked.
On top of this, a number of other groups and individuals were targeted, including non-government organisations, journalists and universities.
Two members of Star Blizzard have been sanctioned as a result of the findings by the UK in tandem with the US for their involvement in the campaign, with the two connected to spear-phishing campaigns that resulted in theft of sensitive data.
The two individuals are Russian FSB intelligence officer and Star Blizzard member Ruslan Aleksandrovich Peretyatko and Star Blizzard member Andrey Stanislavovich Korinets, also known as Alexey Doguzhiev.
The Russian ambassador to the UK was also summoned to answer questions regarding the incident.
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron has said that while the attempts to undermine British democracy have failed, it will continue to work with allies to investigate and thwart Russian espionage.
“Russia’s attempts to interfere in UK politics are completely unacceptable and seek to threaten our democratic processes,” he said.
“Despite their repeated efforts, they have failed.
“In sanctioning those responsible and summoning the Russian ambassador today, we are exposing their malign attempts at influence and shining a light on yet another example of how Russia chooses to operate on the global stage.
“We will continue to work together with our allies to expose Russian covert cyber activity and hold Russia to account for its actions.”
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has said that together with its allies in the Five Eyes alliance (Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada), it has published a cyber security advisory to guide defenders in mitigating Russian espionage activity, as well as guidance for those who are high risk.
“An attack against our democratic institutions is an attack on our most fundamental British values and freedoms,” said Home Secretary James Cleverly.
“The UK will not tolerate foreign interference, and through the National Security Act, we are making the UK a harder operating environment for those seeking to interfere in our democratic institutions.”
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