By Katie French and Larisa Brown
Russia 'tried to hack' Britain's national grid and tried to penetrate telecoms companies including BT, it has been claimed. National Cyber Security Centre chief Ciaran Martin will confirm in a speech today the a major assault on British major power companies ordered by the Kremlin. The bombshell reveals how Russia has successfully targeted media organisations and at times, has even brought down websites. The expert's comments come as the new defence secretary Gavin Williamson warns Russia has increased its number of submarine patrols in the UK waters.
Pictured: National Cyber Security Centre chief Ciaran Martin will confirm in a speech today the assault on major power companies ordered by the Kremlin
According to The Sun, Ciaran Martin will say in a statement later today: 'I can't get into precise details of intelligence matters.
'But I can confirm that Russian interference, seen by the National Cyber Security Centre over the past year, has included attacks on the UK media, telecommunication and energy sectors.'
He will add: 'Russia is seeking to undermine the international system. That much is clear.
'The PM made the point on Monday night - international order as we know it is in danger of being eroded.'
Earlier this week prime minster Theresa May issued a warning to Vladimir Putin over cyber hacking, when she told him: 'We know what you are doing'.
His talk follows PM Theresa May's warning to Russia boss Vladimir Putin on Monday night over cyber hacking, when she told him: 'We know what you are doing'
According to the defence secretary, submarine activity around Britain’s coast has increased tenfold in the past six years.
Numbers of submarines sent by the Kremlin to UK waters are now similar to the levels of the Cold War, the new defence secretary Gavin Williamson said.
It comes as former senior military commanders warn that Britain’s Armed Forces are ‘close to breaking’.
Yesterday, the former head of the Royal Navy, Admiral Sir George Zambellas, told MPs that its anti-submarine warfare capability was ‘inadequate’ and his successor was struggling with further cuts.
The UK was forced to call upon the US and Canada to help hunt down a suspected Russian submarine just last month. Speaking about the UK’s arsenal to deal with the Russian threat, Admiral Zambellas said: ‘I think the total of the sum of those parts is in my view inadequate for the current strategic risk.’
He said defence was short of £2billion a year in funding and if more money was not spent, the Government would be responsible for ‘tipping the Armed Forces into institutional failure’
General Sir Richard Barrons, the former commander of Joint Forces Command, was among the ex-chiefs to warn that defence cuts mean the Army is now ‘20 years out of date’ and ready to ‘fall over’.
He also warned there are ‘existential risks’ to the UK that the Armed Forces are unable to deal with.
He said defence was short of £2billion a year in funding and if more money was not spent, the Government would be responsible for ‘tipping the Armed Forces into institutional failure’.
General Barrons added the Army lacked air defences, unmanned drones and cyber warfare capabilities.
Lib Dem defence spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell said: ‘This scathing criticism from a top former general emphasises the increasingly fragile nature of Britain’s defence capabilities. The Government must listen to this stark warning.’
His comments came ahead of next week’s budget in which Philip Hammond is expected to ignore calls by former defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon to give more money to the MoD.
An MoD spokesman said of the submarine hunt: ‘We play a leading role in Nato and work closely with our allies on security in the North Atlantic. We have robust protection in place for our vessels and are investing £3billion of our rising budget into buying nine new P8 aircraft to patrol the seas.’
An earlier version of this article reported that the National Grid was hacked. The National Grid have since issued the following statement on Twitter: ‘Media reports saying National Grid was “hacked” this year are incorrect. We have processes in place aligned with industry best practice and assessed by government and regulatory agencies and were not compromised.’
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