Industry experts have responded to reports of an alleged cyberattack by Iran on the UK.
Sky News has reported that Iranian groups targeted UK infrastructure back in December 2018.
The attacks are said to have involved the theft of personal details from thousands of employees working at the Post Office, major banks and local government.
David Atkinson, CEO of Senseon and ex cyber operative, said: “This is a sobering story which demonstrates how wide the scope is when we talk about nation state cyberattacks. The temptation is to think of one government’s agency fighting another. However, as this story demonstrates, the reality is that the battlefield extends beyond that to businesses, public services and other organisations. In this case, the Post Office, local government and banks are the victims that were caught in the crossfire.
“This attack also shows that we need to change awareness of what constitutes critical infrastructure. Again, we are not just talking about the energy sector, communications and industrial organisations. Threat actors will also target the economy and if a large scale attack is launched against the UK’s banks, you can bet the situation will quickly become critical. The government has a responsibility to ensure a good standard of security and defence across all major organisations to safeguard the UK.”
Dr Simon Wiseman, CTO of Deep Secure, said: “The threat of state-actioned cyberattacks is very real to governments, public sector and private sector organisations alike. In addition to news of the cyber campaign from Iran, the UK and its western allies recently accused the Chinese government of carrying out an extensive campaign of cyberwarfare, with spies working at General Electric in the US caught using steganography to steal industrial secrets. State-sponsored cyberwarfare and cyberespionage is only set to increase, with vast amounts now being spent by all countries – including the UK – into offensive as well as defensive cyber capabilities.”
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