Latest news with #RichardDearlove
Mint
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Mint
Google uncovers ‘LOSTKEYS' malware linked to Russian-backed Cold River hackers
Google has uncovered a new strain of malware, dubbed "LOSTKEYS", believed to be the work of Cold River, a Russian-aligned hacking group reportedly connected to the country's Federal Security Service (FSB), reported Reuters. According to a blog post published on Wednesday by Google's Threat Intelligence Group (GTIG), the newly identified malware represents a significant advancement in Cold River's cyber capabilities. LOSTKEYS is designed to steal files and transmit system data back to its operators, expanding the group's known toolkit for espionage. Wesley Shields, a researcher at GTIG, stated that the malware signals 'a new development in the toolset' used by the group, which has a history of targeting sensitive political and strategic entities. Cold River, also known under various aliases, has been linked to previous cyber operations aimed at high-profile Western individuals and institutions. The group's primary mission, experts say, is the collection of intelligence that furthers Russian geopolitical interests. Recent surveillance by Google's researchers shows that, between January and April 2025, Cold River targeted advisers—both current and former—to Western governments and military institutions. Other victims reportedly included journalists, international think tanks, non-governmental organisations, and individuals associated with Ukraine. The Russian embassy in Washington has yet to respond to requests for comment on the allegations. Cold River has previously drawn attention for its audacious operations. In mid-2022, the group was accused of targeting three nuclear research facilities in the United States. Later that year, it was implicated in the leaking of private emails belonging to former British intelligence chief Sir Richard Dearlove, alongside other individuals associated with pro-Brexit activities. Cybersecurity analysts warn that the emergence of LOSTKEYS underscores a broader escalation in cyber espionage tactics being employed by state-linked actors. Google has urged targeted organisations and individuals to remain vigilant and adopt updated security measures to mitigate potential risks.
Daily Mail
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Why 500,000 Britons including my wife who signed up to this medical research trial MUST leave it now, writes DR MARTIN SCURR
Not long after I met my wife Rachel, she told me that since 2006 she'd been signed up to an organisation called UK Biobank – a large-scale research resource aimed at improving the nation's health courtesy of the medical information provided by willing volunteers. 'It was the right thing to do,' she told me. 'It contributes to scientific research that ultimately can only help us all.' It's why, despite greatly disliking the invasive process of having her blood taken, Rachel has provided samples each time the firm asked. Two years ago, she received a request from Biobank to undergo an MRI – a more prolonged and unpleasant procedure. She dreaded the claustrophobia she would feel inside the scanner, but I urged her to go ahead with it, as I believed in the scientific cause which it was for. So you can imagine the incandescent sense of betrayal we feel now, learning that this sensitive medical data harvested from my wife and half a million citizens like her is now at the mercy of the Chinese state. That one in five successful applications to access this data have come from research institutions based in China seems a deplorable breach of national security. Certainly, MI5 is concerned enough to warn that these apparently innocuous facilities can be compelled by the Communist regime 'to carry out work on their behalf'. Former head of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove has been just as frustrated. Last week he said: 'We should be significantly concerned. Why on earth do we allow this strategic data into the hands of a Chinese company? There's no way that the Chinese would let us into their country to conduct this sort of business.' Rachel feels furious and let down. In fact, I have barely seen her so upset. 'I thought I was doing a good thing for the world, but it seems instead that I was incredibly naive,' she told me. They are sentiments I share, alongside guilt for encouraging her to provide yet more data. And I suspect that every other person who has submitted samples to UK Biobank over its 19 years of operation feels the same. I do not trust the Chinese Communist Party any more than the British Government, which in 2020 announced it would dismantle telecoms giant Huawei's involvement in our 5G network, due to 'national security concerns'. Five years on, and the Government has wrestled control of yet more national infrastructure from the grip of China in the form of the Scunthorpe steelworks. Its Chinese owner, Jingye Group, was about to run the plant into the ground, and with it the future of virgin steel making in this country – not a comfortable position to be in when the UK is about to embark on years of increased defence spending and rearmament. But as a doctor, no mention of the Chinese government can take place without invoking the spectre of the Covid-19 virus that caused 20million excess deaths worldwide. It seems probable that the virus originated in a laboratory in Wuhan – funded in part by the US – and that the Chinese government repeatedly lied to us about that provenance. What we don't know is why the virus had been engineered in the first place, other than that Beijing certainly seems keen on biological disease research. Could it have been designed to act as a biological weapon? Orwellian though this may sound, it is a question that has disturbing resonance now. For why, in a country of 1.4billion people that is one of the most centralised societies in the world, under the thumb of a sophisticated and repressive state apparatus, is China short of medical data? What value does it place in the genomes, tissue samples, questionnaire responses and GP records from 500,000 UK citizens? We have unwittingly handed over a rich fund of epidemiological data without the remotest idea of China's intentions. This was not the original intention of the UK Biobank project. When it was established in 2006, its purpose was to provide insights that in time could enable scientists to better treat disease. Back then, a repository of DNA, along with health records that examined risk factors such as weight and cholesterol and enabled a deeper understanding of how individuals experience illness, could only be a good thing. Nicely worded letters from UK Biobank would drop on the doormat, politely asking if Rachel would undergo this test or that. The service felt personal. Yet we have heard nothing from the firm over its damning collaboration with Chinese institutions. Instead, an explanation is given on its website, where Professor Sir Rory Collins, UK Biobank's chief executive, doesn't mention the word 'China' once in his response. He said: 'We follow Government guidance on who can use UK Biobank and have robust processes for secure access to the data that are supported by the Government and our funders.' On the same webpage, UK Biobank said: 'Since 2012 we have been sharing the de-identified health and lifestyle data of our volunteers with approved international researchers who are seeking to improve public health. Over 15,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published as a result.' They are right that personal details such as names and dates of birth are stripped from UK Biobank data before it is shared, a fail-safe that seemed satisfactory enough in 2006. But we live in an age of extraordinary technological advances, and it is not beyond imagination that artificial intelligence can scrape this treasure trove of data to pinpoint genetic biomarkers that separate, say, Jewish people from Afro-Caribbeans or Caucasians. The potential consequences of that are almost too chilling to contemplate. China, remember, is more than an economic rival. Were it to invade Taiwan and drag Britain into a war in the South China Sea, we would be first and foremost an enemy of Beijing. The occasional Novichok poisoning on British soil – as was carried out by the Kremlin in 2018 in Salisbury, resulting in the death of Dawn Sturgess, a mother of three – would be a mere prelude to the biological havoc that China could wreak against citizens here. And UK Biobank is willingly selling the blueprint of such an attack to Chinese laboratories. That alone should be enough for the firm to urgently backtrack on its plans – or more pertinently for our Government to force it to. While on paper it is a non-profit charity, it receives funding from the Government and was established by a collaboration between, among others, the UK Department of Health. That means they have a responsibility to step in. If they care about our national security – and indeed about the rights of those well-meaning volunteers who have given their DNA and their health profiles to UK Biobank over the years – then they must act decisively now. In the meantime, I urge every one of those volunteers to take note of a clause on the website's small print: 'You are free to withdraw at any time from the study without giving us a reason.'
Telegraph
23-03-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Huawei was banned from Britain's networks. Now it's in the energy grid
Five years after it was banned from Britain's 5G network, Huawei is bruised but not defeated. While the Chinese tech champion is no longer allowed to operate in sensitive communications networks, the company has found other markets to operate in. One little noticed area where the company has established a foothold is an increasingly crucial industry for Britain: solar power. Huawei manufactures products such as solar inverters, which convert current to allow solar energy to pass into the grid. As of 2022, Huawei had a 26pc share of the European market for these devices, according to Wood Mackenzie. The tech giant has inked a number of deals with UK companies including Lightsource Labs, a subsidiary of BP. Asked in 2021 what Huawei's aims were for the UK market, one executive said it was 'to make solar one of the top renewable energy sources '. China has come to dominate the global market for clean power, manufacturing much of the technology needed for technologies such as wind and solar power. Huawei is one among many Chinese manufacturers that make parts for clean technology. Yet if Huawei's presence in the communications network raised concerns, should we now be worried about its role in the energy grid? And as Britain races towards net zero, is the country sleepwalking into a fresh national security crisis? 'It is a potential vulnerability,' says Sir Richard Dearlove, the former head of MI6. 'China is not a friendly nation – it is a highly competitive nation and, in certain circumstances, it's an adversary.' Lingering security concerns The decision to ban Huawei from the UK's 5G networks in 2020 followed scrutiny of the company's links to Beijing and fears its equipment could be used for espionage. It was not taken lightly: the decision delayed the country's 5G rollout and is thought to have cost BT at least £500m. Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary at the time, said: 'This has not been an easy decision, but it is the right one for the UK telecoms networks, for our national security and our economy, both now and indeed in the long run.' Concerns centred around Huawei's links to the Chinese state. National security laws require all citizens and organisations to help Beijing if required and Ren Zhengfei, Huawei's founder and chief executive, served in the People's Liberation Army for almost a decade before founding the company. Elsewhere, there are lingering concerns over Huawei's wider business practices. Just last week, raids were carried out across Belgium after more than a dozen MEPs were accused of taking bribes from the tech giant, ranging from 'excessive gifts such as food and travel expenses or regular invitations to football matches'. Five people have now been charged. Huawei last week said it took the allegations seriously, adding: 'Huawei has a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption or other wrongdoing, and we are committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations at all times.' The company has always denied it is a security risk and made efforts to address any concerns raised. However, the Government's 5G decision led the company to wind down its operations in the UK. A £1bn plan to build a new research campus near Cambridge has been quietly shelved. But the tech titan, which remains the biggest smartphone manufacturer in China, has not disappeared completely. It has a number of partnerships with UK universities, including its ICT academy at Henley Business School. More alarming for many, though, is the company's presence in Britain's energy sector. The exact scale of Huawei's energy business in the UK is hard to ascertain, though insiders insist it is small. The latest accounts available show the group's UK subsidiary generated revenues of £229m in 2023 – a steep decline from £1.3bn in 2019 – but does not break this down by sector. Huawei continues to sell smart devices such as watches and earbuds in the UK, while it also carries out maintenance on its remaining network equipment. In the accounts, bosses said: 'Moving forward, the company will focus on the sale of products and services that are not impacted by the UK or US restrictions.' The solar power problem While Huawei is perhaps the most recognisable – and infamous – of China's tech companies, it is not the most significant player in Britain's solar industry. Chinese firms including JinkoSolar and JA Solar have played a crucial role in manufacturing panels for UK solar farms, while others such as Mingyang Smart Energy have been tapped to make turbines for offshore wind farms. Britain is reliant on Chinese manufacturing as Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, pushes ahead with plans to shift the country to entirely green electricity by 2030. Security experts say the dangers associated with products such as solar inverters and smart battery systems are limited. After all, how interested would Beijing be in data on a British household's energy consumption? Telecoms networks, by contrast, pose a much greater threat of espionage and intelligence gathering. Nevertheless, China's role in the rapidly growing renewable energy market does give Beijing leverage. Kemi Badenoch, the Leader of the Opposition, last week warned that Britain's race to reach net zero was making the country 'dangerously reliant' on China. 'You've got Ed Miliband's ridiculous pursuit of net zero which is going to cause this country massive problems,' says Sir Richard. He has urged Mr Miliband to drop his ambitions to reach net zero by 2050 and instead focus on energy security. 'The whole issue is one of inter-connectedness. We need to be looking at energy security and the idea that energy security depends on renewables manufactured in China is just completely bonkers. 'The Government seems to accept the risk, but they don't know how to manage the risk in the medium to long term, so it's a hostage to fortune.' Dan Marks, an energy security analyst at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), a defence think tank, warns risks could also develop as power networks become increasingly digitised. 'With sufficient market penetration, smart grid services could potentially become a national security concern and the same is true, although to a lesser extent, with utility-scale batteries,' he says. 'There are several assessments ongoing to determine whether the existing safeguards are adequate or need adapting as the energy system changes and distributed smart systems become more critical to the grid.' Drastic measures For Sir Richard, the best solution would be an outright ban, although he concedes such a drastic measure would be complex. At the very least, systems should not be 'Chinese-technology dependent,' he says. 'I think in the way the world is going we should have a general policy of excluding them to the extent that it's practical and possible, which it is if you focus on the issue.' For most observers, the prospect of a full-blown ban is unlikely. Huawei's supporters point out that the UK is now feeling the effects of its sluggish 5G after the rollout was delayed by the telecoms ban. Analysts at Rusi warn that Beijing's dominance in the renewable energy sector means the UK's net zero ambitions will be 'near impossible' without some input from China. As a result, ministers now face a crucial decision: are reservations about Chinese technology strong enough to intervene in Britain's energy sector? Or will the desire to hit net zero outweigh any national security concerns? A government spokesman said: 'We would never let anything get in the way of our national security, and while we would not comment on individual cases, investment in the energy sector is subject to the highest levels of national security scrutiny. 'We are undergoing rigorous processes to look at the role of China in our supply chain – taking into account the national security considerations, as well as our need for investment in critical infrastructure.'
