China and Russia accused of cyber warfare attacks

A BRITISH government adviser has accused Russia and China of carrying out cyber warfare attacks aimed at stealing national security secrets from other countries.

Baroness Neville-Jones, the prime minister’s special representative to business on cyber security, said Moscow and Beijing were among the governments “interested in this kind of activity”.

Her comments come on the eve of an international conference hosted by foreign secretary William Hague to discuss “norms of acceptable behaviour in cyberspace”.

Earlier Iain Lobban, the head of Britain’s electronic “listening” agency GCHQ, disclosed that the Foreign Office and other government departments had faced a “significant” cyber attack over the summer.

Lobban did not say who was responsible. The government has in the past been reluctant to point the finger of blame publicly.

But pressed during an interview on BBC Radio 4 on whether China and Russia were among the countries involved in such attacks, Neville-Jones replied: “They certainly are.”

“There are a lot of private individuals who do this kind of ‘hoovering’ of other people’s systems and then try and sell the stuff that they have managed to obtain to buyers. Those buyers can indeed be governments,” she said.