Prime minister Andy Burnham met with Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin yesterday (8 October), where they agreed to cooperate to address Russian hybrid threats to the countries’ critical national infrastructure (CNI).
Hybrid threats can include cyber attacks, drone warfare and other forms of disruption which are sometimes difficult to assign blame to.
In August, The Daily Telegraph newspaper reported that hackers linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) were to have successfully shut down a “small” UK power station.
“The hybrid threat from our adversaries – especially Russia – extends across Europe and beyond, threatening our collective security,” the UK Government said.
“The UK and Germany will jointly act on identifying and disrupting hybrid activity, wherever it comes from.”
The government added that it had agreed with Germany to share information and coordinate action “to monitor, deter and disrupt threats”.
“The new joint-partnership will degrade hostile actors’ capacity to operate in Europe, and will build resilience against cyber-attacks, sabotage and threats to critical infrastructure,” it added.
A joint statement issued by the UK and German governments after the meeting said: “The UK and Germany will deepen cooperation in order to prepare for and respond to growing hybrid threats.
“Through this partnership we will work together to build democratic and societal resilience, better protect critical national infrastructure, and improve our ability to monitor, mitigate and counter hybrid threats.”
Prime minister Andy Burnham said: “Attacks on our infrastructure, our businesses and our democracies are not a distant threat. They reach into people’s homes and workplaces, and they are designed to make us weaker and more divided.
“Britain and Germany are joining forces to find, expose and disrupt this activity. Security and growth go hand in hand, and both must be felt in every town and city in our two countries.”
Responding to the announcement, Orange Cyberdefense principal security researcher Ric Derbyshire said: “Amid persistent geopolitical instability, we must be prepared for an increase in both the frequency and severity of attacks, especially against critical national infrastructure, where the cyber-physical impact is likely to be more consequential.
“The increasing use of cybercrime and hacktivist groups as well-organised state proxies makes this hybrid threat both more effective and harder to detect and disrupt.
“In the face of this, the only way to make a stand is through unprecedented information sharing and coordination with our allies.”
In September, NCE spoke to Cyro Cyber chief executive officer Shannon Simpson to hear his perspectives on the increasingly demanding cybersecurity needs of the CNI sector.