Russian FSB-Backed Hackers Allegedly Interfere in UK Political Processes

The UK Government has accused the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) of attempting to interfere in political processes through cyberattacks.

As reported by BBC, Deputy Foreign Minister Leo Docherty said in the House of Commons that sanctions were imposed on two individuals from the Star Blizzard hacker group; one of them is an active FSB officer.

This group is believed to be linked to the Centre 18 division of the FSB of the Russian Federation.

In addition, Andrey Kelin, the Russian Ambassador, was summoned to the UK Foreign Office.

The group is accused of carrying out hundreds of targeted hacker attacks on UK politicians, civil servants, think tanks, journalists, scientists and other public life participants.

Hackers attacked individuals' private emails after conducting thorough research and creating fake accounts that pretended to be their contacts.

It is believed that this group focused on data hacking, and other people distributed it through various channels.

The US is also expected to announce action against the group.

"Russia is focused on the democratic process in the UK. This group received a huge amount of data. This information is used to undermine the West in various ways," Western officials said.

In February, Stewart McDonald, a member of the UK Parliament, claimed that his email was hacked by a person posing as one of his employees. He announced this publicly to prevent any emails from being leaked. They never were.

The UK has accused Russia of interfering in the 2019 election after documents on US-UK trade were stolen from Conservative MP Liam Fox and leaked online, but has not yet identified who might be behind it.

Hackers linked to Russia and China hacked the UK's most dangerous nuclear facility.

The UK has repeatedly warned that hackers who support Russia are trying to disrupt or destroy the critical infrastructure of the country.