LONDON — Hackers and hostile states will face repercussions such as retaliatory cyber attacks for targeting U.K. institutions, Britain’s security minister has warned.

Speaking to POLITICO at the British Library — which has not yet fully-recovered from a devastating 2023 cyber-attack by criminal ransomware group Rysida — Dan Jarvis said that there will be “consequences and implications” for attacks on other U.K. assets.

Asked directly who Britain will target with its own state-backed “offensive cyber” capabilities, the minister said: “Let me put it this way: If you are a cyber criminal and you think that you can attack a U.K.-based institution without there being repercussions from doing so, think again.”

He added that it is his role to “make sure that people don’t think they can just get away with doing this and that there will be consequences and implications for them.”

It comes after the government announced that it would be banning the public sector from paying ransoms to criminals after they have been subject to a cyber attack.

For many years Britain did not publicly advertise its offensive cyber capabilities, which now range from disrupting online activity to actively destroying and taking over online networks. In 2013 it was reported that Britain had become the first country to admit that it uses offensive cyber attacks against other nations.

Arms race

Today, the U.K. is actively ramping up its cyber arsenal not only to defend the public and private sector from attacks, but to launch them against adversaries. May’s strategic defense review put new emphasis on Britain’s offensive capabilities, with the announcement of a £1 billion investment into a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command, which will co-ordinate attacks alongside the National Cyber Force.

Jarvis told POLITICO that he could not divulge the “particular technical capabilities that we will seek to use” but highlighted the work of the National Crime Agency, which last year revealed its role in compromising the entire criminal enterprise of LockBit — a prolific ransomware group responsible for billions in worldwide ransom payments and recovery costs.

“Where there are attempts, we will seek to do everything that we possibly can to ensure that those individuals or groups are held accountable and understand that there are repercussions as a consequence of their actions,” he added.

Artificial intelligence is already a tool that is supercharging the scale and efficiency of cyber criminals and hostile states, with warnings that this could extend to terrorist activity in the coming years. 

Jarvis said that the government is looking at how Britain uses technology like AI to “exploit to our advantage,” acknowledging an “arms race” in the “extraordinary rate of technological advancement” in modern threats.

The India question

The vast majority of Britain’s cyber threats comes from Russia, either from its state capability or its aligned criminal gangs which carry out attacks against targets abroad. Threats are also posed by the other three of the U.K.’s “big four” international adversaries: Iran, China and North Korea.

However, recent years have seen international concerns raised over the emergence of the hacking capability of individuals and groups based in countries which are allies of Britain. These are often referred to as “hack-for-hire” companies who offer their services internationally, with notable examples based overseas, including in India.

The government of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi — who is visiting the U.K. for a four-day visit — itself came under fire in 2021 over allegations of phone hacking and surveillance linked to an Israeli spyware company.

Asked what the U.K. was doing to combat hacking originating in countries such as India, Jarvis told POLITICO that the U.K. has a “very good, close working relationship with India” and U.K. ministers are working closely with officials, including India’s national security advisor, to make sure the two countries’ approaches are “aligned in order to crack down on fraudulent activity where it happens in either in India or the U.K.”

“We’ve got a good, strong, constructive security relationship with India,” he said, adding: “We will continue to invest in that relationship for the long term, because we think it serves our national interest and their national interest well.”