UK Foreign Minister To Accuse Russia Of Sheltering Cybercriminals - Foreign Office

LONDON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2021) UK Foreign Minister Dominic Rabb on Wednesday will criticize Russia for allegedly sheltering criminals wanting to undermine the United Kingdom's society and democracy by using digital tech to sabotage and steal in a speech at a virtual event organized by the National Cyber Security Center, the Foreign Office announced.

"Hostile state actors and criminal gangs want to undermine the foundations of our society and democracy. And let's be clear, when states like Russia have criminals operating from their territory they have a responsibility to prosecute, not shelter them," Raab is expected to say at the CyberUK conference.

According to excerpts of his speech released in advance to the media, the foreign secretary will also include North Korea, Iran and China among the authoritarian regimes sponsoring such attacks in cyberspace, and call out malicious cyberactors as the "industrial-scale vandals of the twenty-first century."

During the opening session of CyberUK on Tuesday, Home Minister Priti Patel said that the law passed in 1990 to prohibit access to computer material will be formally reviewed to ensure it is fit for purpose.

"As part of ensuring that we have the right tools and mechanisms to detect, disrupt and deter our adversaries, I believe now is the right time to undertake a formal review of the Computer Misuse Act," Patel said.

Meanwhile, the Computer Weekly digital magazine quoted the director of the UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Jeremy Fleming, as saying that the UK is facing a "moment of reckoning" around its cybersecurity because of the rising technology threat from countries such as Russia and China.