© file photoBritish Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt
Britain is accusing Russian military intelligence of being behind a host of recent cyberattacks seeking to
undermine critical Western institutions from sports and transportation authorities to election processes.A British national security report released late on October 3 concludes that the Russian military intelligence agency, or GRU, is "a pernicious cyber-aggressor" that has used a network of hackers to spread discord and confusion across the world.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on October 4 described the accusations as "fantasy," as British Defense Secretary Gavin Williamson
condemned Russia as a "pariah state" whose "reckless and indiscriminate" attacks had left it isolated in the international community.The GRU, the British report said, was almost certainly behind the
"BadRabbit" ransomware attack last year that targeted a Ukrainian international airport and Russian media outlets, as well as the hacking of the World Anti-Doping Agency in Switzerland.It also concluded that the
GRU was behind hacks and leaks of U.S. Democratic National Committee e-mails that embarrassed President Donald Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton in the weeks before the 2016 election, among other high-profile and damaging attacks.
"The GRU's actions are reckless and indiscriminate:
they try to undermine and interfere in elections" in a clear assault on Western democracy, British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in releasing the report.
But some of the GRU's cyberattacks
"serve no legitimate national security interest, instead impacting the ability of people around the world to go about their daily lives free from interference,
and even their ability to enjoy sport," Hunt said.
Comment: Firing on all burners and lacking even a modicum of diplomacy, the US is setting itself up for a 'day of reckoning'.