Hackers attacked UK Defence Academy in 2021 — Analysis

Unknown hackers inflicted “significant” costs on the UK’s Defence Academy last year, but were unable to infiltrate the wider servers of the Ministry of Defence, the academy’s former director told British media.

Sky News was told by Air Marshal Edward Stringer that he had retired in August from the armed forces. “sophisticated”Cyberattacks on the academy were discovered in March.

“The consequences for the operations were significant, but then manageable,”Stringer stated that IT personnel had to be trained. “find back-up ways”To restore the network. He stated that there are costs involved. “operational output,”Teachers and students found it difficult to read and access email and online material.

Stinger suggested that intruders may have tried using the academy’s servers as a backchannel to infiltrate other military institutions, but said that “there hadn’t been any other breaches beyond the Defence Academy.”

Sky News received confirmation from a spokesperson of the Ministry of Defence confirming that it knew of this. “an incident” with the academy’s servers in March, and that “there was no impact on the wider Ministry of Defence IT network.”

It did not say who the ministry thought responsible. Stringer also said that it was not clear if the attackers had been criminals or agents hostile to a power. Sky News reported that while investigators think Russia and China might have been involved, they also believe that the attackers could be criminals who acted independently. 

It is located in central England’s Shrivenham and teaches approximately 28,000 military personnel, diplomats, as well as civil servants each year.

Dominic Raab was the former foreign secretary. “Chinese state-backed groups”Cyberattacks on Microsoft were committed. Zhao Lijian, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry denied that Beijing had been behind the attacks. 

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