Cyber-Security Expert Warns the UK of Potential World War Three Threats

The United Kingdom is under persistent cybersecurity attacks by an alleged enemy, looming a possible World War Three. Again, a Russian hack group allegedly obtained some military-sensitive information on the UK's defense system.

Cyber Attack on the UK's Military Database

Zaun, a private security company that protects most of the UK's Ministry of Defense websites, reported in August that it has been under some sophisticated cyber-attacks by an alleged group of Russian hackers.

According to reports, the accused group of hackers allegedly obtained top military-sensitive information from some of the UK's military websites. This information includes data on a chemical weapon laboratory at Port Down and information from the HMNB Clyde nuclear submarine in Scotland.

Commenting on the development, Kevin Curran, a cybersecurity professor at Ulster University, revealed that Zaun's website witnessed serious and relentless attacks.

He described the attacks as signs of threats as the United Kingdom approaches a potential World War Three due to Russia's persistent invasion of Ukraine.

According to Curran, the accused hacking group is LockBit, a known ransomware group of hackers with connections to Russian nationals.

Also, the professor noted that LockBit got thousands of pieces of information from Zaun's military data leaked to the dark web after the private security firm was attacked.

In addition, the cyber security expert claimed that Russia might have sponsored Zaun's cyber raid based on the relentless nature of the attacks and the targets.

United Kingdom Not Prepared for Russia's Sophisticated Cyber Attacks

Furthermore, Professor Kevin Curran stated that the UK was not prepared for the new era as it failed to regulate third-party firms bearing information regarding its military infrastructure properly.

He opined that cybercrime is currently the biggest global threat, offering the best route for the UK's enemy to penetrate the country.

According to him, using third-party suppliers has risks, and one should only sometimes expect these suppliers to adhere to the industry's ethics.

In a recent tweet, Kevan Jones, the Labour MP and a Commons Defense Selective Committee member called out the UK government to explain why Zaun's systems were so susceptible to cyber-attacks.

This is potentially very damaging to the security of some of our most sensitive sites.

The Government needs to explain why systems were so vulnerable.https://t.co/g9P2LWJAbw

- Kevan Jones (@KevanJonesMP) September 3, 2023

Jones further described the security breach as potentially very damaging" to the UK's most important security websites.

However, the private security company Zaun shared via its official website that it has alerted the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on the situation. It has also taken rational measures to avoid further cyber-attacks on its computer systems.

Zaun stated that the attack was through a corrupted Windows 7 PC that ran software for one of its producing machines. However, the system was later fixed and is up to date.

It also noted that software thwarted any form of data transfer during the attack. Nonetheless, it confirmed that LockBit managed to acquire some of the sensitive information.

The security company also believed that LockBit might have accessed its data stored on the server. The effect of the attack is that LockBit successfully acquired 10GB of Zaun's data, which amounts to 0.74% of the firm's stored information.

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