‘Highly likely’ GRU hacked UK institute countering Russian ‘fake news’

The National Crime Agency is leading an investigation into a suspected cyber attack on a British institute that seeks to counter Russian disinformation.

Whitehall sources said it is highly likely that Russia’s military intelligence service carried out the hack-and-leak of files from the little-known Institute for Statecraft.

The move may have been in response to Britain implicating the GRU in the Salisbury spy poisoning last year and pledging to “shine a light” on the agency’s covert activities, they said.

Security officials regard the attack as significant because – if confirmed – it would mark the first time Russia has conducted a hack-and-leak operation in Britain, a separate source said.

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