A new website that has published leaked emails from several leading advocates of the UK’s exit from the European Union (EU) is linked to Russian hackers, according to a Google cybersecurity official and the former head of foreign intelligence. from United Kingdom.
The website – titled “Very English Coop d’Etat” – claims to have published private emails from former British spy chief Richard Dearlove, leading Brexit campaigner Gisela Stuart, pro-Brexit historian Robert Toombs and other supporters of Britain’s divorce. EU Britain, which was finalized in January 2020.
The site claims they are part of a group of pro-Brexit hardliners who secretly run the UK.
Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of the emails, but two victims of the leak confirmed on Wednesday that they had been targeted by hackers and blamed the Russian government.
“I am well aware of a Russian operation against a Proton account that contained emails to and from me,” Dearlove said, referring to privacy-focused email service ProtonMail.
Dearlove, who headed Britain’s foreign intelligence service – known as MI6 – from 1999 to 2004, said the leaked material should be treated with caution given “the context of the current crisis in relations with Russia”.
Toombs said in an email that he and his colleagues were “aware of this Russian disinformation based on illegal hacking,” but declined to comment further. Stuart, who chaired Britain’s Vote Leave campaign in 2016, did not return the emails.
Shane Huntley, who heads Google’s Threat Analysis Group, stated that the “English Coop” website was linked to what the Alphabet Inc-owned company knew as “Cold River,” a Russia-based hacking group.
“We are able to see it through technical indicators,” he said, adding that the entire operation – from the Cold River hack attempts to the publication of the leaks – had “clear technical links” to each other.
The Russian embassies in London and Washington did not return emails seeking comment.
The British Foreign Office, which manages media inquiries for MI6, declined to comment. Other Brexit supporters whose emails were suspected of having been spread on the website also did not reply to the emails.
Source: Gestion
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