Cyber

UK boosts Ukraine's cyber defences with £6m support package

Details of a previously secret programme to defend Ukraine against Russian cyber-attacks have been revealed by the Government.

A £6.35m support package from the UK Government is protecting Ukraine's national infrastructure and vital public services from cyber attacks, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has revealed.

Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion in February, the UK's Ukraine Cyber Programme was mobilised to protect against increased Russian cyber attacks.

The programme has not been made public until now to protect its operational security.

Watch: Will Russian cyber attacks follow UK's support for Ukraine?

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said: "Russia's attack on Ukraine is not limited to its horrific land invasion. It has also persistently attempted to invade Ukraine's cyberspace, threatening critical information, services and infrastructure.

"The UK's support to Ukraine is not limited to military aid – we are drawing on Britain's world-leading expertise to support Ukraine's cyber defences.

"Together, we will ensure that the Kremlin is defeated in every sphere: on land, in the air and in cyberspace," he added.

On Tuesday, the Defence Secretary said momentum on the ground remained with Ukraine, with Crimea expected to come within range of Ukrainian artillery by the end of November.

Ben Wallace told a committee of peers: "The direction of travel is that I think it is likely that by the end of this month, the northern part of Kherson will be depleted of Russians or the Russians will have left that part, which brings into range parts of Crimea from long-range artillery that the Ukraine held or the HIMARS-type (multiple rocket launcher) systems."

Kherson, in southern Ukraine, is currently under Russian occupation and Russian-installed local authorities have sought to evacuate civilians from the area in anticipation of a Ukrainian offensive.

Mr Wallace added that Russian forces continued to suffer from a lack of equipment and poor morale, and said he expected fighting to continue through the winter.

Watch: The cyber lessons from Ukraine.

According to the Government, through using the expertise of "world-leading cyber security providers", the UK's Ukraine Cyber Programme has to date:

Provided incident response support to Government of Ukraine entities, protecting them against destructive cyber attacks, including malware such as Industroyer2. Which is preventing malicious actors from accessing vital information relevant to the war effort.
Limited attacker access to vital networks and supported Ukraine to harden its critical infrastructure against future attacks.
Delivered frontline cyber security hardware and software including firewalls to prevent attacks from taking hold; DDoS protection to ensure Ukrainian citizens can continue to access vital information; and forensic capabilities to enable Ukrainian analysts to fully understand system compromises.

According to the latest Ministry of Defence (MOD) intelligence update, imagery has shown two MiG-31K Foxhound interceptor jets that were almost certainly parked at Belarus's Machulishchi Airfield on 17 October, with a large canister stored nearby within a protective earth berm.

The MOD intelligence believes that "it is likely that the canister is associated with the AS-24 Killjoy air-launched ballistic missile, a large munition which the MiG-31K variant is adapted to carry".

It went on: "Russia has fielded Killjoy since 2018, but it has not previously been deployed in Belarus.

"Russia has occasionally launched these weapons during the Ukraine war, but stocks are likely very limited.

"With a range of over 2,000km, basing Killjoy in Belarus gives Russia a little added advantage in terms of striking additional targets within Ukraine.

"It has likely carried out the deployment mainly to message to the West and to portray Belarus as increasingly complicit in the war," the statement ended.