Former spy chief calls for military cyber attacks on ransomware hackers

Former National Cyber Security Centre head Ciaran Martin

Credit: Ciaran Martin

The state should launch military cyber attacks to shut down ransomware gangs that have extorted millions of pounds from British businesses, a former spy chief has said.

Ciaran Martin, who previously led the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, said the problem of criminal gangs locking and stealing files has become so serious that Government should now seek to disrupt the operations of prolific criminals.

Mr Martin said: “I actually think that disruption of infrastructure, what you might call a cyber attack, is justified."

GCHQ or the military could use their own hacking abilities to shut down the servers and tools used by the most determined and damaging criminal groups, Mr Martin said.

The plans would mark a major change of tack for the UK authorities, who have long downplayed the idea they could routinely use offensive hacking as well as cyber defence.

Mr Martin,  who now teaches at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School, said: “If you can have confidence that you can execute a disruption operation that would decrease their ability to operate and you can do that safely, then I don’t see why you shouldn’t do it."

A Government spokesman confirmed that cyber attacks are an option for the Government but said they should only be deployed if “proportionate and necessary”.

Ransomware attacks, where criminals paralyse computer systems and demand a ransom which could reach millions of pounds to unlock them, have become an increasing issue for British business. Around 48pc of UK organisations have been affected, according to cyber security firm Sophos.

Currency exchange company Travelex collapsed into administration last year, months after the business reportedly paid a $2.3m (£1.6m) ransom to hackers who had paralysed its networks and forced it to temporarily stop exchanging money.

Last year the Government announced the formation of a new National Cyber Force that will employ 3,000 people and bring together the hacking abilities of GCHQ, the Ministry of Defence and the intelligence services.

The use of cyber attacks should not be the Government’s initial response to ransomware incidents, Mr Martin said, but should be considered if other options have failed.

He said: “The use of disruptive attacks against ransomware is for the really big scale operations, the ones you just can’t take down.

“You won’t be able to do it on every ransomware gang and if you did you’d probably start making mistakes. You’d probably start hitting innocent people.”