A group of cyberattackers generally regarded as an online arm of Islamic State terrorists are actually associated with Russian military intelligence agents, according to British officials.
“This pattern of behavior demonstrates their desire to operate without regard to international law or established norms and to do so with a feeling of impunity and without consequences,” British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said in a rebuke accompanying the announcement.
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Hunt’s team included the “Cyber Caliphate” among a list of a dozen cyber groups responsible for high profile attacks — each an alias of the Russia’s GRU, according to the United Kingdom.
The release echoed U.S. assessments that Russian spies are associated with a group called Fancy Bear that carried out the 2016 hacks of the Democratic National Committee, for instance. They also blamed Russia for cyberattacks against Ukraine in 2017, and the World Anti-Doping Agency, which supported the ban of Russian athletes from the 2018 Winter Olympics.
“These cyber attacks 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[s],” Hunt said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s team denounced both the election interference accusations and the charge of state-sponsored doping for Olympic athletes as Western smear campaigns.
“I want obscurantism linked to the alleged Russian meddling in any election campaign in the United States to end,” Putin said earlier Wednesday.
Hunt’s denunciation of the GRU’s broader cyberattacks comes in the wake of British Prime Minister Theresa May charging that the GRU sent two spies armed with “a military-grade nerve agent” to assassinate a former colleague in Salisbury, England.
“The actions of the GRU are a threat to all our allies and to all our citizens,” May told the House of Commons last month. “We are increasing our understanding of what the GRU is doing in our countries, shining a light on their activities, exposing their methods and sharing them with our allies, just as we have done with Salisbury.”
British officials say that double agent Sergei Skripal was attacked in retaliation for betraying Russia, a conclusion they drew in part from Putin’s 2010 threat to kill such traitors.
Putin likewise has denied any involvement in the Skripal attack, though he reiterated his contempt for the former Russian spy earlier Wednesday. “He is simply a spy and a traitor to his country,” Putin said. “He is just scum and that is it.”
The Russian leader expressed hope that the diplomatic fallout from the incident would “blow over sooner or later,” according TASS, but Hunt’s announcement indicates the British determination to continue raising the issue. “Our message is clear: together with our allies, we will expose and respond to the GRU’s attempts to undermine international stability,” he said.
