<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Britain hasn\u2019t ruled out conducting cyberattacks in retaliation for the recent poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter on U.K. soil, triggering a stern warning from Russia after Prime Minister Theresa May said Moscow was likely behind last week\u2019s assassination attempt in the English city of Salisbury.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot only is Russia groundlessly and provocatively accused of the Salisbury incident, but apparently, plans are being developed in the U.K. to strike Russia with cyber weapons,\u201d Russia\u2019s embassy in London said in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cStatements by a number of MPs, \u2018Whitehall sources\u2019 and \u2018experts\u2019 regarding a possible \u2018deployment\u2019 of \u2018offensive cyber-capabilities\u2019 cause serious concern,\u201d the statement said. \u201cWe invite the British side to once again consider the consequences of such a reckless move.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. May announced on Monday that Britain believed Russia was likely responsible for poisoning Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia, and that the U.K. will \u201ctake the full range of appropriate responses against those who would act against our country in this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn Wednesday, we will consider in detail the response from the Russian State. Should there be no credible response, we will conclude that this action amounts to an unlawful use of force by the Russian State against the United Kingdom. And I will come back to this House and set out the full range of measures that we will take in response,\u201d the Conservative Party leader told lawmakers.<\/p>\n
Addressing a question from a member of Parliament, Ms. May suggested cyberattacks could indeed be in the cards.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan she confirm that if it is the conclusion of her majesty\u2019s government that there was unlawful use of force by the Russian state, that we possess a considerable range of offensive cyber capabilities which we will not hesitate to deploy against that state if it is necessary to keep our country safe?\u201d asked MP Mark Harper, a fellow Conservative.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe of course will look at responses across a number of areas of activity should it be, as he has said as I said in my statement, that we conclude that this action does amount to an unlawful use of force by the Russian state here in the U.K.,\u201d Ms. May responded.<\/p>\n
The U.K.\u2019s response could include hacking Russian targets including state-sponsored propaganda outlets and professional trolls linked to the Kremlin\u2019s international meddling, British media reported citing unnamed sources.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffensive cyber would be something in the arsenal. It would be considered or even likely\u201d a government source told The Times of London.<\/p>\n
A former Russian intelligence colonel who later assisted British agents, Mr. Skripal and his daughter were discovered unconscious on a bench in Salisbury on March 4. Britain has since determined they were poisoned by a military-grade nerve agent developed by Russia, and Ms. May said Monday that Moscow was \u201chighly likely\u201d the culprit.<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia is not guilty,\u201d responded Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign ministry. \u201cRussia is ready to cooperate according to the Chemical Weapons Convention, if Britain takes the trouble and condescends to carry out its international obligations according to the same document.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.K. Ministry of Defense warned in an unrelated announcement last week that Britain stands to wage cyberattacks if deemed necessary.<\/p>\n
Britain\u2019s offensive cyber capabilities include the ability to retaliate after a cyberattack; the capability to deny, disrupt or degrade target communications or weapons systems; and capabilities to attack wider systems and infrastructure, according to a report released in December by the U.K. Parliament\u2019s Intelligence and Security Committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cOffensive cyber capabilities are usually highly tailored and system specific, as opposed to a one size fits all \u2018cyber weapon,\u2019\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n
Russia, on its part, has been linked to an array of offensive cyber campaigns targeting the U.K and it\u2019s allies, ranging from a wide-scale attack that debilitated Estonia in 2007, to the multi-pronged interference campaign waged against the 2016 U.S. presidential race and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.<\/p>\n
In the U.S., meanwhile, a bipartisan group of 14 senators wrote President Trump last week demanding he release a \u201ccyber deterrence strategy\u201d containing rules for responding to state-sponsored hackers.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur adversaries need to understand the boundaries of what is acceptable in the cyber domain, as well as the circumstances under which we would utilize offensive capabilities to retaliate against cyberattacks,\u201d the lawmakers wrote.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Britain hasn’t ruled out conducting cyberattacks in retaliation for the recent poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter on U.K. soil, triggering a stern warning from Russia after Prime Mini Britain hasn\u2019t ruled out conducting cyberattacks in retaliation for the recent poisoning of a former double agent and his daughter on U.K. soil, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[34,266],"class_list":["post-2686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-worlds","tag-politics","tag-russia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pornvas.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}