The UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) has warned future elections could be under peril and seriously impacted by Russian state-sponsored cyber attacks, leaving citizens under immense risk.
Earlier this month at a European council meeting in Brussels, British Prime Minister, Theresa May stated “in light of the alleged Montenegro coup plot, I will call for us to do more to counter destabilising Russian disinformation campaigns and raise the visibility of the Western commitment to this region.”
The Prime Minister also said the UK would “enhance [its] security co-operation with our Western Balkans partners, including on serious and organised crime, anti-corruption and cyber security.”
As reported by GCHQ, the primary concerns are that hackers could leak internal emails or data from the GCHQ, however, they are fighting to keep all information strictly confidential. These warnings have become more evident, as it seems votes were tampered in during the most recent US presidential election whereby Donald Trump became America’s 45th president.
Before the former President Barack Obama left office he requested a full review into the Russian hacking scandals across the US, as well as exiling some natives back to their home country.
Hacking the US election
Although, it seems May and Trump are supposedly working together to solve the issue, the hackers are being accused of helping Trump win the US presidential election due to the great extent of votes in his favour. The election was back on November 8th 2016.
Sir Michael Fallon, British conservative politician, has said “Nato must defend itself as effectively in the cyber sphere as it does in the air, on land, and at sea”. Currently, US intelligence has come to the conclusion that Russia took action towards Democrats in the 2016 election, under the influence that Trump would receive more votes. Russia has denied all cases in relation with the US election.
Edited from sources by Ella Donaldson
Sources:
Silicon
The Telegraph
Express
