Moscow Denies Allegations Of Russia's Complicity In Cyberattack On UK's Islam Channel

Moscow Denies Allegations of Russia's Complicity in Cyberattack on UK's Islam Channel

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, denied on Wednesday allegations that Moscow had been involved in cyberattacks on the UK-based Islam Channel broadcaster.

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th October, 2018) The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, denied on Wednesday allegations that Moscow had been involved in cyberattacks on the UK-based islam Channel broadcaster.

On October 5, the Financial Times reported, citing non-designated UK officials, that the Russia's military intelligence operatives allegedly hacked the computer network of the UK-based tv station in 2015. The news outlet has not provided any evidence to prove the claims. The newspaper has not specified why Russia would "attack" the broadcaster either. A day before, the UK Foreign Office said it assessed "with high confidence" that Russia's military intelligence agency was "almost certainly" responsible for a series of cyberattacks on political institutions, media outlets and infrastructure across the globe.

"Following the fomenting of hysteria around the Skripals case and endless fake news for example, there was another story on [Russia's alleged plans to create a stronghold in] Libya apparently there was a need for new, additional insinuations to maintain the Russophobic narrative. The Russian Embassy in London directly discussed the allegations with the leadership of the [Islam Channel] broadcaster and it turned out that the hacking of computers took place in 2015 and resulted in the disappearance of information from the archive of Islam Channel," Zakharova said at a briefing.

According to Zakharova, it was the UK intelligence services who investigated the situation, having unlimited access to the channel's servers for five months.

"Following the investigation, it was stated that Islam Channel fell victim to a professional cyberattack, most likely, I quote: 'organized by a state.' At the same time, the state in question was not announced. Something prevented them from naming the state at that time," she added.

"The leadership of the channel learnt the Russian version only in early October from the media ... It was surprised by these publications. The channel accepted the Russian position on the state's non-involvement in computer hacking with understanding, noting the senselessness and absurdity of these insinuations," Zakharova stressed.