Cyber Attack
We are in a War - Part 5
There are at least four ‘nationally significant’ cyber attacks on the UK every single week according to the 2025 annual review, with 204 handled by the GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre in the year to September. These attacks are on the increase and pose a very real threat to the United Kingdom’s national security, its ability to function economically and to protect its critical infrastructure. The attacks carried out by ‘Advanced Persistent Threat actors’ (APT) are the most concerning. These attacks originate from nation-state operations or criminal gangs with highly sophisticated cyber capability. They are also usually well funded operations. These attacks represent one of the many arms of grey zone warfare.
Attacks include ransomware, malware, phishing, Distributed denial of service (DDoS), Man in the Middle and Zero day attacks. Man-in-the-middle attacks are where communication between two parties is intercepted. The conversation can be manipulated, and becomes open to theft of data exchanged in the conversation. The users at either end can be unaware that there is anyone manipulating their exchange. Zero-day attacks exploit vulnerabilities in programmes before the programme developer knows about the vulnerability. APTs also undertake complex and targeted social engineering through social media and captured media. There can also be insider threats to companies and systems where insiders intentionally or unintentionally misuse their access in such a way that harms an organization. Their misuse can lead to data theft, sabotage, espionage, or leaks, either through negligence or malicious intent.
Many attacks are launched against targets using malware or ransomware. The viral programmes exploit loopholes in systems that allow them to then silently infect other computers in the system, becoming well embedded, difficult to remove and even detect. Signs that your computer may be infected include it running uncharacteristically slowly, having unexpected pop-ups, browser homepage changes, unknown programs starting, strange network activity, and unauthorized account/password changes. Even anti-virus software can be compromised by malware and ransomware. If your anti-virus software seems unable to run a deep scan, it is very possible that it has been disabled by a virus.
