Tag: british | Page 3

MI6 chief’s hacked emails attacked MI5 and betrayed British spy operations in China

December 1, 2022/in Computer Security

Emails published by Russian hackers and systematically analysed by Computer Weekly reveal that in January 2020 the former “C” (chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6) Richard Dearlove linked up with hard-Brexit campaigners and White House lobbyists to send a threat-laden briefing to 10 Downing Street warning about telecoms company Huawei.

Dearlove’s exposure of former MI6 spy colleagues – in support of a Donald Trump government campaign – came as a secretive group of hard-Brexit supporters attempted to clandestinely replace advice from Britain’s main national security organisation, the National Security Council (NSC). Dearlove also attacked every other British security and intelligence organisation, including MI5, GCHQ and one of his successors as chief of MI6.

This group, formed with Dearlove’s help, used a variety of cover names to push its agenda and was launched on 18 August 2018 by former historian and retired LSE research professor Gwythian (Gywn) Prins. The conspiratorial group initially campaigned to replace then prime minister Theresa May with Boris Johnson, according to emails published this year by Russian hackers. The group labelled its “super top secret” plans “Operation Surprise”.

Johnson did replace May less than a year later, in July 2019. Six months after that, Prins and his group thought they had made it to the very top. Two weeks before the event they had dreamed of and campaigned for – the UK’s departure from the European Union (EU) – Prins was invited to the Cabinet Office for a 90-minute meeting with Michael Gove, then chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and number two to Johnson.

According to leaked emails Prins sent out after he met Gove on 16 January 2020, Gove offered him a top job. “I shall likely head up a small geo-strategic assessment unit in the Cabinet Office,” he wrote. “It will … be a rival to the NSC behemoth … Gove understands that.”

Wanting the group to campaign against official MI5 advice on Huawei, Gove had also asked for “a short, hard-hitting note which explains why Huawei should not be touched in any aspect”.

“The Prime Minister … should NOT take the advice of the current…

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Ransomware incidents now make up majority of British government’s crisis management COBRA meetings

November 18, 2022/in Internet Security

Ransomware incidents in the United Kingdom are now so impactful that the majority of the British government’s recent crisis management COBRA meetings have been convened in response to them rather than other emergencies.

The need to regularly hold cross-departmental COBRA meetings reveals how little progress Westminster has made to address the risks ransomware poses to the country, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the government’s response, speaking to The Record on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to openly discuss the matter.

They noted that despite the repeated warnings of the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) chief executive Lindy Cameron describing ransomware as the most acute threat facing the country, there did not appear to be a proportionate level of ministerial interest. Successive Home Secretaries have instead prioritized the issue of small boat crossings of migrants in the English Channel.

The gatherings — officially known as a meeting of the Civil Contingencies Committee, which takes place in the Cabinet Office Briefing Room (COBR) — have historically been convened in response to terror attacks, but are now increasingly focused on cybersecurity incidents affecting critical services.

According to the NCSC’s annual review, the U.K. was impacted by 18 ransomware incidents this year which “required a nationally coordinated response” including attacks affecting the South Staffordshire Water utilities company and the National Health Service software supplier Advanced. The increased focus on these incidents at COBRA meetings has not previously been reported.

Former Home Secretary Priti Patel MP welcoming G7 Interior Ministers in 2021. Image: U.K. Government

Ransomware ‘sprints’

The surge in COBRA meetings follows a cross-Whitehall “sprint” — a project management term — on ransomware which concluded last December. Its intention was to come up with recommendations to deal with the issue that would be signed off on in advance of the G7 meeting of interior ministers at the end of 2021. However a year on from the conclusion of that “sprint” the government has still delivered no actionable…

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British cycle security manufacturer Squire launches Inigma Diamond BL1 smart D-lock on Kickstarter – Gear

July 19, 2022/in Internet Security

British cycle security manufacturer Squire has launched its new Inigma Diamond BL1 smart D-lock on Kickstarter.

The digital D-lock has achieved the highest Sold Secure Diamond rating for bike locks, the difference being the advanced digital technology inside combined with uncompromisingly tough, hard-to-break materials.

The strong hardened steel lock body and 12.7mm hardened boron steel shackle make it resistant to attacks of over five minutes using a range of heavy-duty tools.

Inigma Diamond BL1 comes with maximum security AES-256 bit military grade encryption that keeps data secure and safe from hacking. Squire said its Inigma bike lock range was the ‘first ever’ to achieve two BSI Kitemarks, Internet of Things (Residential) and Secure Digital Applications.

Inigma Diamond BL1 works by using Bluetooth technology to communicate with a smartphone via the Inigma app download available on the App Store or Google Play. Weighing just 1.44kg, the Inigma Diamond BL1 is also portable and convenient.

Other benefits include sharing the lock with others, controlling multiple locks from the same phone, and programming the lock to open at set times and dates.

Designed, engineered and assembled in Britain by Squire, Inigma Diamond BL1 is the result of extensive research and development to design the ultimate D-lock that reflects Squire’s premium brand status for ‘toughness guaranteed.’

Now available on Kickstarter via a range of special pre-release ‘early bird’ pledges and discounts, the Inigma Diamond BL1 has an estimated delivery time of October.

The Squire name has been at the forefront of lock-making since 1780 with a history carried down through eight generations. Today, Squire is recognised for making some of the toughest locks in the world, making cycle locks since the 1960s. All carry Squire’s personal 10-year guarantee as standard.

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British terrorist was hunted by cops days BEFORE he flew to New York

January 18, 2022/in Computer Security

Faiisal Akram, 44, from Blackburn who was the gunman in the hostage situation at a Texas and able to enter the US despite being a career criminal and a religious extremist who was a regular at protests to free Muslim prisoners

Britain and the US were today accused of ‘dropping the ball’ after letting career criminal Malik Faisal Akram fly to New York despite police already hunting for him and his links to a religious sect banned in Saudi Arabia for attempts to ‘purify Islam’.

The Blackburn terrorist, 44, was shot dead in Texas on Saturday night after a 10-hour siege at the Congregation Beth Israel synagogue in Colleyville where he took a rabbi and three of his congregation hostage with a handgun and claiming to be carrying a suicide bomb.

Today it emerged that Akram became known to counter-terrorism police after becoming ‘completely obsessed’ with Islam and displayed extreme and disruptive behaviour at Friday prayers during his most recent spell in prison.

He was also a regular at anti-Israel demonstrations and marches for the release of Muslim prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, having first been put behind bars in 1996 as a juvenile delinquent and going in and out of prison for 16 years until he found religion.

In 2001 he was banned from his local court, where he was a regular in the dock, for turning up to abuse staff and ranting about 9/11. He was a regular visitor to Pakistan and reportedly a member of the Tablighi Jamaat group, set up to ‘purify’ Islam and banned from Saudi after the kingdom described the group as a ‘gateway to terrorism’.

One US senator, briefed on the case the Department for Homeland Security and a former Pentagon official, told The Daily Telegraph today: ‘Certainly someone let the ball drop.’

The security services were today accused of a serious ‘intelligence failure’ after a British Islamist was able to travel to the US – and MailOnline can reveal that about a fortnight ago, police were looking for him at the Manchester home he shares with his six children.