UK must adapt cyber defence or face 9/11-scale attack, agency warns
‘This was a failure of policing, a failure of management capability but above all, a failure of imagination’
‘The stakes in the decade ahead could not be any higher... The emerging technology will define the shape of the world’
THE UK could be hit by a 9/11-scale cyberattack if security services underestimate the “magnitude of the threat” they face, a senior US intelligence chief has said.
Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, warned that unless governments continually adapt to the changing nature of warfare, “history may repeat itself ”.
The agency is the cyber defence force for the US, and its role is similar to the UK’S National Cyber Security Centre.
Ms Easterly served in the US military for two decades and was deployed to Baghdad as chief of the cryptologic services arm of the National Security
Agency. Speaking at the annual Cyberuk conference via videolink, she said that a “failure to imagine” possible new methods of attack could lead to devastating consequences.
Discussing 9/11, she said: “We did not grasp the magnitude of the threat that had grown for some considerable time.
“This was a failure of policing, a failure of management capability but above all, a failure of imagination.
“While history may not repeat itself, it surely does rhyme… We cannot afford to suffer another colossal failure of imagination.
“The stakes in the decade ahead could not be any higher, particularly for those of us in technology and cyber security.
“The emerging technology of today will define the shape of the world tomorrow.”
She said that “it was not an exaggeration” to say that the next ten years will determine whether the governments of the “post Second World War liberal order” will survive.
A failure to adapt and “imagine” what new and emerging threats from state actors and lone wolves would look like could be fatal for countries around the world, she said.
Part of adapting to the evolving threat, Ms Easterly added, would mean the West having to “aggressively” invest in technology that would allow it to outperform products from “authoritarian” linked companies in rogue states.
Also speaking at the conference in Newport was Steve Barclay, the chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. He said: “The greatest cyber threat to the UK, one now deemed severe enough to pose a national security threat, is from ransomware attacks.
“Should the UK face an attack on the scale previously inflicted on Ukraine’s critical national infrastructure sites, businesses and the public should not expect to receive advance warning.
“Preparedness is therefore essential. And our defences must be in place, ready for whatever comes.”
In order to defend against cyber attacks, the UK would need to adopt a “whole of society” approach, he added,
Security experts at the conference told The Daily Telegraph that this thinking was crucial as “attacks on individuals can open backdoors into state level hacks”.
Mr Barclay said one major Russian-based organised crime cyber group has been behind failed ransomware attempts in the UK, with 53 victims identified in the past year alone.
Lindy Cameron, the NCSC chief executive, echoed the views at the conference, saying that it was vital for cybersecurity experts to “empower everyone” and to “mobilise every individual to stand up for the collective safety of our community”.
Yesterday, the Government announced that Russia was behind a cyber attack that caused chaos across Europe hours before it invaded Ukraine.
Kremlin cyber spies hacked a Viasat communication satellite to target the Ukrainian military as well as knock thousands of users offline, including a wind farm in Germany.