Ministry of Defence academy hit by state-sponsored hackers

The Ministry of Defence academy was hit by a major cyber attack, Russia and China state-sponsored hackers are suspected to be behind the offensive

The Ministry of Defence academy was hit by a major cyber attack, according to the British tabloid newspaper The Sun, Russia and China state-sponsored hackers are suspected to be behind the offensive.

The Defence Academy of the United Kingdom provides higher education for personnel in the British Armed Forces, Civil Service, other government departments and service personnel from other nations. The Defence Academy is headquartered at what used to be the Royal Military College of Science site at Shrivenham in southwestern Oxfordshire; it delivers education and training there and in a number of other sites. The majority of training is postgraduate with many courses being accredited for the award of civilian qualifications.

“THE MoD’s defence academy has been hit by a major cyber attack.” reported The Sun. “Staff were told the hack was by a foreign power, making Russia and China suspects.”

The cyber attack took offline the website of the academy and knocked out the IT network, which is run by a contractor. Systems at the academy was compromised and it will take time to completely restore the impacted computers and servers.

“They said it’s the work of a foreign power.” “Everyone was told to use their personal laptops and computers because the work ones have been compromised. a source told The Sun. “It is going to take at least five weeks to fix.”

Ministry of Defence confirmed that it is aware of an issue with the Defence Academy IT systems.

“These are run by a contractor and there is no impact on the Ministry of Defence IT network itself.” announced the Ministry of Defence. “Teaching continues.”

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – hacking, Ministry of Defence)

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