British authorities confirmed that the UK Military Defense Academy was the target of a cyberattack that caused what was described as “significant damage”. The attack was confirmed by Marshal Edward Stringer, retired since last August, who mentions that the malicious activity was identified since March 2021.
Stringer said he does not know the real origin of the attack, although he believes that hackers could attack from Russia, Iran, China or North Korea, although authorities do not rule out that it is the work of a ransomware operation. Authorities acknowledge that the attack is devastating, and that the problems have not been fully addressed.
In this regard, Sky News assures that the academy’s networks did not store confidential information. Based in Oxfordshire, the academy has 28,000 military, diplomats and civil servants a year, and operated primarily online due to the pandemic.
The attack appears to have been detected by workers at a contractor firm, who reported the incident to authorities. It wasn’t long before the researchers concluded that the unusual activity was due to a cyberattack with high destructive potential.
However, the hackers were not completely successful during their intrusion, as the authorities thwarted their attempt to use this access as a kind of backdoor to the systems of the Ministry of Defense.
Stringer concludes by mentioning that this attack falls into what he identified as “a gray area” in terms of the damage generated by threat actors, which makes it clear that this incident was very close to being considered an act of cyberwarfare. Stringer is an authoritative voice on these issues, having served prior to his retirement as director general of development in the British Navy, as well as being known for his forward-looking ideas and approaches to military tasks and the technology of the future.
To learn more about information security risks, malware variants, vulnerabilities and information technologies, feel free to access the International Institute of Cyber Security (IICS) websites.
He is a well-known expert in mobile security and malware analysis. He studied Computer Science at NYU and started working as a cyber security analyst in 2003. He is actively working as an anti-malware expert. He also worked for security companies like Kaspersky Lab. His everyday job includes researching about new malware and cyber security incidents. Also he has deep level of knowledge in mobile security and mobile vulnerabilities.
