- Russian hacking group, Star Blizzard, was part of a Russian intelligence operation aimed at interfering with UK politics and the democratic process, says government.
- The government has confirmed that Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) is behind a long-running hacking campaign that targeted politicians, civil servants, journalists and civil society organizations.
By
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Bill Goodwin,
Computer Weekly
Published: 07 Dec 2023 17:15
The Russian campaign targeted high-profile individuals with phishing emails in an attempt to obtain information to interfere with UK politics and the democratic process.
The hacking group, known as Star Blizzard or Seaborgium, has targeted politicians from multiple political parties from 2015 onwards.
The group was also responsible for leaking UK-US trade documents leaked ahead of the 2019 general election.
The Foreign Secretary David Cameron said that the UK wanted to expose Russia’s “malign attempts” to influence British politics.
“Russia’s attempts to interfere in UK politics are completely unacceptable and seek to threaten our democratic processes. Despite their repeated efforts they have failed,” he said.
Foreign Office Minister Leo Docherty told the House of Commons that Russia’s ambassador had been summoned and two Russians including an FSB agent faced financial sanctions.
Computer Weekly identified the hacking group, which is known as Callisto, ColdRiver, Tag-53, TA446 and BlueCharlie, as an FSB operation in a report last year.
An assessment by the UK’s National Cybersecurity Centre, part of GCHQ confirmed today that Star Blizzard “almost certainly” conducted cyber-attacks under the direction of the FSB’s Unit 18, which specializes in cyber espionage.
Computer Weekly has previously reported that its victims include the former head of MI6, Richard Dearlove, after the Russian hacking group gained access to his encrypted email account.
The hacking group subsequently published 22,000 emails and documents from Dearlove and a network of 60 hard Brexit campaigners, in apparent retaliation for Boris Johnson’s support of Ukraine.
Left wing Freelance journalist, Paul Mason, who has frequently criticized Putin’s war against Ukraine was also targeted by the group and his emails leaked to the Greyzone, a pro-Russian publication in the US.
In February 2023, Scottish National Party MP Stewart McDonald disclosed that his emails had been hacked by the Russian hacking group.