UK threatens to retaliate over cyber attacks

Rapidly approaching the point when retaliation against countries suspected of launching cyber attacks and engaging in cyber espionage will be ordered, the UK Government’s security and counter-terrorism chief Lord West of Spithead said that even if it is extremely difficult to obtain incontrovertible proof that a particular country is behind the attack, if the attacks continue much longer the country will be forced to start returning like for like and engage in a matching counterattack.

“We’re all capable of doing these things. At the moment we wouldn’t do that, but maybe this is where we need to have discussions,” he says. “There is no doubt that some state actors have sucked out huge amounts of intellectual copyright, designs to whole aero engines, things that have taken years and years of development.”

ITPro reports that West didn’t divulge what countries he believes are responsible for some of the 300 serious attacks that the country has been subjected to, but that the MI5 has already made known that espionage activities from Russia and China kept them increasingly busy.

In the meantime, the EU and Nato nations have been warned to start building up their cyber defenses against the escalation of cyber attacks from China.