The national cybersecurity center in the UK considers the protection of the political system of the country from interference by foreign hackers as a “priority”, writes the Sunday Times. Intelligence agencies fear, the newspaper writes that “acting with the support of the Kremlin” hackers can steal data from the internal correspondence of political parties and voter databases, and then publish them in the public domain, to cause reputational damage to certain political parties and organizations and to spoil the attitude of the voters.
As writes the edition, the head of the centre Kieran Martin sent the parties a letter in which he offered his “expert assistance in strengthening their network security and protect against cyber attacks and hackers”. On the eve of parliamentary elections in 2020, the centre offers seminars for political parties.
“Protection of the political system of great Britain from hostile cyber-activity is one of the priorities of our activities, so we developed recommendations for political parties and hold special seminars on measures of computer security”, — the newspaper quoted a letter from Martin.
“You will be aware of the coverage of events in the United States, Germany and other places, which remind us of the potential danger of hostile action against British political system. <…> We are not talking only about the cyber security of their own systems of political parties. Attacks on our democratic institutions can be wider, their targets can be Parliament, local commissions, research centers and e-mail addresses of individuals and groups of people with influence”, — the newspaper quotes an excerpt from the letter.
