Britain 'under attack' in cyberspace

Britain 'under attack' in cyberspace:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23098867

 

This happens to all countries though, cyber spying is universal. I also have a feeling that this is GCHQ damage control. They (GCHQ) have always been utilised by British governments for various political purposes. I've no doubt that we are under constant cyber attack, just as virtually every country is now. Of course, we also have MI5/6 & James Bond.

 

Damage control indeed

 

I agree 100% with this! Not sure it's going to work though

 

Yeah, once the cyber cat's out of the bag ...

Either way, virtually every intelligence gathering agency is trying to gather intelligence on virtually everyone else (including virtually every other intelligence gathering agency). It is really in their collective job descriptions.

 

That's true, but something bothers me... It looks like there is virtually no counter-intelligence at work in any of the EU countries (including UK). It was the job of counter-intelligence to stop NSA spying on EU countries, and it is also their job to stop cyber-attacks against a country (in this case, UK). They act like they don't exist...

 

As mentioned in the other ongoing NSA thread, deals were/are in place between these countries to share information. So, in some cases (not all), the U.K knew they were being watched by the NSA, and the NSA knew they were being watched by the U.K. Neither side is new to this whole spying thing, it's cat and mouse and sometimes they evade each other. It's harder to prevent these things than it might seem, even for the pros. Both enemy and foe, friend and friend are working on better tools and methods every single day.

This particular story seems like a classic intel scenario of half-truth, half-lie. It's true they are under attack, but it's not true that all these attacks are coming from the true "bad guys". I like how the Chinese get the prominent mention, it's a perfect opportunity to make them the fall guy.

 

Spot on

 

You obviously haven't been reading the papers. GCHQ have been described as an intelligence superpower.

GCHQ

 

yup, GCHQ are one of the most sophisticated intelligence agency in the world

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23017108

 

Gathering data (intelligence) is rather different than preventing other intelligence organizations from gathering data (counterintelligence).

 

I dont totally trust GCHQ.
I remember a story from years ago where a couple of "officers" were caught trying to send classified information to the soviet union.
Britain seems to have a shady history when it comes to handing out info to communist countries.

Remember "burgess and Mclean" and even roger hollis the head of MI5 was implicated as a soviet spy.

 

I don't see GCHQ or MI6 as being any less competent than any other global intelligence or security organisations.

 

Many of that era believed that Communism was the only alternative to Fascism though. Much of it was ideological.

 

I didn't hear that MI5 or any other of the European counterintelligence agencies tried to stop any of the US spying on the EU officials. Or if they tried, they seem to have failed.

Also, from the original article, related to the UK:

Yeah, that totally sounds like counterintelligence is working!

 

you do realise that GCHQ were also spying on the EU officials to a greater degree than any american agency?

well it is, as they know exactly how many times they are being attacked .

also, even a little bit of research would reveal that american organizations have lost more trade secrets due to hacking then any other country in the world, sounds like the americans need to sort it out.

 

GCHQ were helping the US spy on Europeans. The US was using their technology. See above about damage control. GCHQ are in the shite at the moment. They are trying to justify their actions. My guess is that most countries are cyber attacked hundreds of times a day. They are just making the claims sound more dangerous than they actually are. This is what makes it damage control.

In a nutshell they are trying to claim that they are desperately needed & this kind of justifies any nefarious activities that they have been up to recently.

It's all smoke & mirrors as we say in England.