“Every possible precaution” must be taken to guard against a potential Russian cyber-attack on the UK’s electricity infrastructure, Boris Johnson has said.
Responding to a question by the BBC’s Andrew Marr about the potential vulnerability of the UK’s infrastructure to a Russian assault, the foreign secretary, said: “We have to take every possible precaution. If you look at what Russian has done in Salisbury and on critical infrastructure, we have to be very, very cautious indeed.”
Johnson was speaking in the wake of comments by Russian president Vladimir Putin that the western countries, which participated in Saturday morning’s (14 April) assault on suspected chemical weapons facilities in Syria, would face “consequences”.
According to media reports, the Ministry of Defence and the GCHQ are braced to respond to attacks on infrastructure including water supplies and gas and electricity networks.
The UK government’s decision to take part in the air strikes was the subject of a special debate, held in parliament yesterday (16 April) afternoon.
The heightening of tensions between the UK and Russia follows the publication last week by the National Cyber Security Centre of a new framework for prioritising cyber incidents into six grades depending on their severity.
The government recently revealed that it has set up an industry task force to draw up a strategy to restore the National Grid in the event of a nationwide power failure triggered by a cyber- attack.
The National Security Capability Review, published last month, said the department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) is working on the issue with a taskforce of representatives from across the energy sector.