Brits face hacking, bots and deep fakes on an unprecedented scale as hostile countries bid to interfere in the General Election for differing reasons, claim defence experts.
Politicians need to be prepared and given training from MI5 on the signs of activity from spies and it needs to be done quickly, said Prof Anthony Glees, a security and intelligence expert at the University of Buckingham. He said the activities from the “axis of evil” made up of Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, each have their “own particular goals”.
“Every MP needs to be alerted to the fact that different hostile agencies want different things. It's complicated and they have to get their heads round this,” he told The Mirror. “MI5 needs to train them to watch out for specific signs, and train them accordingly, and be fast about it too. It's not just the Tory party that has been caught out by this snap election, hostile actors will also have been caught short. And they read the opinion polls like everyone else.”
Russian cyberhacking already raised its head again this week - but affecting the NHS rather than politics, when operations and tests had to be cancelled after a ransomware assault on private firm Synnovis, which runs some London hospital pathology services. The attack was blamed on a group of Russian cyber criminals called Qilin.
Putin meeting China's President Xi Jinping (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)The West is waking up to the threat it faces from a new era of cyber espionage and with important elections ahead, the feeling is that it is not ready. There have been reports this week that journalists and activists in the EU who have been critical of Vladimir Putin have been targeted by hacking spyware.
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While Belgian police searched the European Parliament office and home of a member of staff who is believed to have played “a significant role” in a Russian interference operation, stated the national prosecutor. At the same time, Estonia’s Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said that Russia is waging a shadow war on the West that needs a collective response.
Britain expelled Russia’s defence attache in May after two British men were accused of working with Russian intelligence services to set fire to a London warehouse. In April, two German-Russian nationals were arrested and accused of trying to attack military sites in southern Germany. “What I would like to see is the recognition that these are not isolated events,” said Ms Kallas. “Second, that we share information about this amongst ourselves. Third, make it as public as we can.”
Russia
Prof Glees pointed to the different aims of the hostile countries. "What Russia wants is chaos. I don't believe Putin gives two hoots about who wins on July 4th he simply doesn't want anyone to win big. What he wants is a disunited United Kingdom, he wants our democracy to be destabilised, incapable of doing the things we have to do if we are to be strong enough to oppose his wicked strategies in Europe.
"Putin is clearly using his GRU, his military intelligence officers, to develop a network of saboteurs in the UK to help his vanquish Ukraine, including a readiness to burn down factories and warehouses which assist our efforts to arm Zelensky. He also want to feel free to kill anyone in the UK he regards as traitors to stifle external dissent. He's very like Stalin in this as in other respects. Would-be MPs in constituencies where there are weapons factories and warehouses need to be made very aware of this."
China
"What China wants is information about everyone and everything but it is not, at this juncture, interested in a chaotic UK as Russia is," said Prof Glees. "China is much more interested in conventional espionage, using blackmail, cash, sex honey-traps, even 5 star trips to China, to recruit human agents in Parliament and other institutions including universities, and so get close to the sources of political power in the UK and to research centres. It's plain that China has already had some success in constructing a spy network inside the Palace of Westminster, foiled thanks to MI5.
"Would-be MPs need to be told that the gorgeous person, male or female, who thinks they are so utterly attractive they want to hop into bed with them, are likely agents of China's National Liberation Army. This also applies to academics. They need to look at themselves in the mirror before making dates and ask 'am I really that gorgeous'? If they answer is 'no', they should stay well away from contacts. On no account should they send pix of themselves to dating apps."
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Anadolu via Getty Images)Iran
"Iran wants to do everything it can to exploit people's deep distaste for Netanyahu's 'war of righteous revenge' which has done so much to ruin the international reputation of his country and his armed forces," said Prof Glees. "The Iranians will be working 24/7 to use the terrible destruction of Gaza to garner support for Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis, especially amongst the impressionable young. Netanyahu has recklessly given them a golden shot at doing so.
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"Radical MPs, especially in the Labour Party, must be very aware of being manipulated, including blackmailed. Student protest groups should be warned by MI5 to be on the look out for those who wish to recruit them whilst they are still studying."
Kim Jong Un's secret service is also trying to infiltrate the UK (KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)North Korea
Prof Glees continued: "North Korea simply wants us to think it is impregnable and is doubtless searching for agents perhaps amongst peace groups to frighten them into staying out of any conflict Kim Jong Un seeks with South Korea. He wants a neutral UK. He'll have plenty of opportunities with them."
Prof Anthony Glees said that MPs should be given training so as to know what to look out forMeanwhile, Prof John Strawson from the University of East London agreed that Russia will be looking to sow chaos. "There is no question that there will be attempts by Russia to influence voting in the General Election. This election will be most digital in British history," he told The Mirror. "This will give hackers, bots and influencers huge scope to intervene. The parties will need to be on top of their tech campaigns to deal with these threats. However, the differences between the main parties on defense and security mean that in practical terms any result will produce a Parliament and government supportive of Ukraine and rock solid in their commitment to Nato."
And Prof Strawson said there hasn't been enough investment on defence to counter the threat. "We are not spending enough money to counter the threat from Russia and we need to address this as GCHQ knows," he said. "But this is the same across the board perhaps aside from the Poles and the French. We are not in a great position, with apparently demoralised people here, Government spending on defence isn't popular it doesn't win elections, people look at areas like the NHS and it is difficult to explain to people the priority here.
"Russia has a very sophisticated security service which is of course where Putin came from, he has people he works with also from that background that he has known back to the 1970s. The system works well in manipulating opinion and he began to learn in the 1990s how to adapt it from the way it was used in the Soviet Union to a democracy. And he is quite a difficult opponent."
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