{"id":605816,"date":"2026-05-27T01:59:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T01:59:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/605816\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T01:59:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T01:59:08","slug":"russia-is-targeting-uks-infrastructure-and-democracy-gchq-head-to-say-gchq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/605816\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia is targeting UK\u2019s infrastructure and democracy, GCHQ head to say | GCHQ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Russia is relentlessly targeting Britain\u2019s infrastructure and democracy while there is only a narrowing technological window to stay ahead of a fast-developing China, the head of the spy agency GCHQ will warn in a lecture on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Anne Keast-Butler, giving an inaugural annual lecture, will say that the UK is caught in a \u201cnew era of radical uncertainty\u201d and that \u201cthe risk of miscalculation\u201d is as high as she has ever seen it as hacker attacks from the two states continue.<\/p>\n

The spy chief will particularly emphasise the wide-ranging threats posed by Russia, saying that Moscow is \u201crelentlessly targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust\u201d in the UK.<\/p>\n

This requires GCHQ<\/a>, which specialises in electronic intelligence, to fend off cyber-attacks and counter \u201creckless sabotage and assassination attempts\u201d in its efforts to protect the UK and support western allies and Ukraine.<\/p>\n

During the Ukraine war, Russia has also targeted the UK and other allies with sabotage and disruption campaigns, she will say. In one instance, firebombs were placed in DHL parcels<\/a>, with one catching light in Leipzig, Germany and a second at a warehouse in Birmingham, having travelled from the continent by plane.<\/p>\n

The language around China<\/a> is notably more muted, despite several espionage scandals over the past year, reflecting broader government efforts to maintain a positive trade and economic relationship after a visit by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, in January.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina is now a science and tech superpower \u2013 with sophisticated capabilities across their intelligence, cyber and military agencies,\u201d Keast-Butler will say, and its growing development of artificial intelligence means there is a \u201cnarrowing window for the UK and allies to stay ahead\u201d.<\/p>\n

Britain has to deal with four major cybersecurity incidents a week, with China, Russia and Iran behind most the serious attacks, according to figures issued last month by Richard Horne, the chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, an arm of Cheltenham-based GCHQ.<\/p>\n

The scale of hostile activity online has led other spy chiefs, including the newly appointed head of the foreign intelligence agency, MI6, Blaise Metreweli, to warn that the UK is caught in \u201ca space between peace and war\u201d<\/a>. Information and technology were becoming increasingly weaponised by Russia and others, she said in December.<\/p>\n

Britain faces a \u201cmoment of consequence\u201d where it is seeing increasingly brazen behaviour from adversaries, Keast-Butler is expected to say on Wednesday, in a talk to be given at Bletchley Park, the second world war home of GCHQ, which then specialised in breaking codes used by the German military.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to demonstrate GCHQ\u2019s ability to plan before a major crisis, the spy chief referenced correspondence from its first director, Alastair Denniston, in the months leading up to the war breaking out.<\/p>\n

He discreetly sought a commitment from the University of Cambridge\u2019s Newnham College to recruit \u201cin an emergency \u2026 six students proficient in modern languages\u201d in January 1939, eight months before Adolf Hitler invaded Poland.<\/p>\n

Earlier, on Tuesday, Britain targeted Russia-linked cryptocurrency platforms, banks and financial networks that it said were used to bypass sanctions. It froze their assets and barred UK firms from processing payments and having banking relationships.<\/p>\n

The measures targeted \u201cshadow financial systems\u201d said to underpin Russia\u2019s war economy, including the Kremlin-backed A7 network. This, the UK said, had been used to route funds, finance procurement and exploit foreign banking systems to evade restrictions placed on Russian money after the invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Crypto exchanges and entities operating Russia-focused platforms were also targeted by the UK sanctions, including a Kyrgyz bank and firms registered in jurisdictions including Georgia and the United Arab Emirates, alongside individuals tied to the network.<\/p>\n

Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, said: \u201cWe will continue to act fast and decisively, alongside our allies, to expose, disrupt and dismantle these networks, and ensure those enabling Russia\u2019s aggression face consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russia is relentlessly targeting Britain\u2019s infrastructure and democracy while there is only a narrowing technological window to stay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-605816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}