GCHQ boss hints at ability to cyber attack other countries

GCHQ director Jeremy Fleming used his first public speech at a recent cyber security event to hint at Britain’s own ability to mount cyber attacks on other countries.

At Manchester’s CyberUK 2018 - the UK government's flagship event for British cyber security, which is now in its third year - Mr Fleming spoke about how Britain’s adversaries were proactively using technology to further their cause and how threats facing the UK are constantly changing and becoming more complex.

“We’ll continue to expose Russia’s unacceptable cyber behaviour, so they’re held accountable for what they do and to help government and industry protect themselves,” he said.

Mr Fleming - who was an MI5 officer for almost 25 years - added that Britain will soon deploy its own cyber toolkit to match the pace of technological change of its adversaries.

“It’s one that combines offensive and defensive cyber capabilities, to make the UK harder to attack, better organised to respond when we are, and able to push back if we must,” he went on to say.

You can read Mr Fleming’s full speech at https://www.gchq.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Director%20CyberUK2018%20As%20Delivered.pdf