A cyber attack on the UK’s Defence Academy – possibly by Russia or China – caused “significant” damage, a retired high-ranking officer has revealed.
Air Marshal Edward Stringer, who left the armed forces in August, said the attack which was discovered in March 2021 meant the Defence Academy was forced to rebuild its network.
He said he did not know if criminals or a hostile state, like China, Russia, Iran or North Korea, were responsible but the damage has yet to be fully rectified months on, it has been reported.
“It could be any of those or it could just be someone trying to find a vulnerability for a ransomware attack that was just, you know, a genuine criminal organisation,” Mr Stringer said.
“There were costs to… operational output. There were opportunity costs in what our staff could have been doing when they were having to repair this damage," he added.
“And what could we be spending the money on that we’ve had to bring forward to rebuild the network? There are not bodies in the streets but there’s still been some damage done.”
It has been reported that no sensitive information was stored on the academy’s network.
The school, based in Shrivenham, Oxfordshire, teaches 28,000 military personnel, diplomats and civil servants a year and moved more online during the pandemic.
In his first since he left the military, Mr Stringer said “unusual activity” was first discovered by contractors working for outsourcing company Serco and “alarm bells” started ringing.
He said there were “external agents on our network who looked like they were there for what looked pretty quickly like nefarious reasons”.
But he disclosed the attack was not successful and while the hackers may have been using the academy as a “backdoor” to other Ministry of Defence (MoD) systems, there were no breaches beyond the school.
Mr Stringer – who was also director general of joint force development and led the military thinking about how it would adapt to the future of warfare – said the attack fell within a so-called grey zone of harm, which falls below the threshold of war.
The site, which is much like a domain for a university, had to be completely rebuilt, a task which is still ongoing, he aid.
The National Cyber Security Centre, a branch of GCHQ, was also made aware of the hack, it has been reported.
“In March 2021 we were made aware of an incident impacting the Defence Academy IT infrastructure. We took swift action and there was no impact on the wider Ministry of Defence IT network. Teaching at the Defence Academy has continued,” an MoD spokesman said.
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Tonight's Chat is a series of online conversations on The National. The series features a diverse range of celebrities, politicians and business leaders from around the Arab world.
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Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
Rating: 4/5
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
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1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 202 points
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-GP 188
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-GP 169
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing 117
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 116
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7. Sergio Perez, Force India 56
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1 Adam Yates (GBR) Mitchelton-Scott 4:42:33
2 Tadej Pocagar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:03
3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana 0:01:30
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ
5 Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Diego Ulissi (ITA) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:56
General Classification after Stage 3:
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2 Tadej Pocagar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates 0:01:07
3 Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ) Astana 0:01:35
4 David Gaudu (FRA) Groupama-FDJ 0:01:40
5 Rafal Majka (POL) Bora-Hansgrohe
6 Wilco Kelderman (NED) Team Sunweb) 0:02:06
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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June 3: NZ Provincial Barbarians 7 Lions 13
June 7: Blues 22 Lions 16
June 10: Crusaders 3 Lions 12
June 13: Highlanders 23 Lions 22
June 17: Maori All Blacks 10 Lions 32
June 20: Chiefs 6 Lions 34
June 24: New Zealand 30 Lions 15
June 27: Hurricanes 31 Lions 31
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2020 Toyota Corolla Hybrid LE
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Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
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Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
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