The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) of the British Parliament has released its (PDF) annual report for 2012-2013. The report contains many interesting points, but perhaps the most interesting is paragraph 5.
Paragraph 5 of the report reveals that the UK is particularly concerned about cyber threats.
“The Commission has reported that this year cyberattack threats are at an all-time high and are expected to increase further, with the addition of new ‘mercenaries,’” the report states.
According to the ISC, state actors such as China and Russia pose the greatest threat. However, the committee warns that some states are believed to have hired mercenaries to carry out attacks on their behalf.
“These cyber-controlled groups are made up of specialized professionals and undertake attacks on various targets such as financial institutions and energy companies. These groups are a threat in their own right, and the combination of their capabilities along with state support makes the situation very worrying,” says ISC.
For now, terrorist groups are not considered a “credible cyber threat.” However, officials emphasize that this may change in the future.
While the ISC appears to be pleased with the government's "evolved" system defenses, a significant number of attacks have been recorded on government networks, some of which resulted in data being stolen.
The report says that many public services have been hit by distributed denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks. Last summer, hackers attempted to steal information in over 200 email accounts across 30 government agencies.
“Government agencies are being targeted by attacks from industry suppliers who may hold sensitive government information. We have been told that hacker spies have managed to obtain files from the MOD (Ministry of Defence, or in Greek Υπουργείο Αμύνης).” This will have security and economic consequences for the UK,” the report says.
