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| rity Affairs, Feb. 13, 2017. United Kingdom National Cyber Security Centre, ‘‘Cyber Security Fixing the Present So We Can Worry About the Future Nov. 15, 2017. Ben Nimmo, ‘‘Putin’s Media are Pushing Britain for the Brexit,’’ The Interpreter, Feb. 12, 2016; Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Tweet, https://twitter.com/mfa—rus- sia/status/748231648936869888, June 29, 2016. 666 Donie O’Sullivan, Russian Trolls Pushed Pro-Brexit Spin on Day of Referendum CNN, Nov. 10, 2017. Karla Adam & William Booth, Rising Alarm in Britain Over Russian Meddling in Brexit Vote The Washington Post, Nov. 17, 2017. 668 Ibid. ity afforded under UK law to the beneficial owners of British-reg- istered companies. 661 With regard to cyberspace, in February 2017 the head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), Ciaran Martin, asserted that the Russian government had stepped up its online aggression against Western countries. 662 He cited 188 major cyberattacks over a three-month period against the UK government, most of which were reportedly attributable to Russian and Chinese actors the NCSC reportedly blocked 34,450 attacks over a six-month period against UK entities more broadly (although not all of these attacks are necessarily attributable to the Russian gov- ernment). 663 In a November 2017 public speech, he indicated that Russian interference over the past year included attacks on the UK media, telecommunications and energy sectors.’’ 664 The Russian government has also apparently sought to seize on populist sentiments and economic frustrations, exploiting the UK’s generally open marketplace for free speech and political competition by introducing fake or misleading news. Officially, the Russian government asserted its neutrality on the question of the Brexit referendum, but its English-language media outlets RT and Sputnik covered the referendum campaign extensively and offered systematically one-sided coverage supporting a British departure from the European Union and frequently broadcasted statements from UKIP head Farage. 665 Reporting in November 2017 on cached material from Twitter accounts tied to the Internet Research Agency, the Russia-based troll farm that generated false stories around the 2016 US. elections, CNN alleged that numerous accounts had also blasted out pro- Brexit messages before the UK referendum. 666 Two researchers from the University of Edinburgh ultimately asserted that more than 400 of the Internet Research Agency Twitter accounts that had been active in the US. election had also been actively posting about Brexit. 667 Meanwhile, research conducted by a joint team of experts from the University of California at Berkeley and Swansea University in Wales reportedly identified 150,000 Twitter accounts with various Russian ties that disseminated messages about Brexit before the referendum—interestingly, a combination of messages both supporting and criticizing Britain’s membership in the European Union, which may signal that the broader aim was to magnify societal discord. 668 In contrast, however, Twitter representatives reported in November 2017 that the company found only six Tweets on its platform—all generated by RT, which spent roughly VerDate Mar 15 2010 04:06 Jan 09, 2018 Jkt PO 00000 Frm 00124 Fmt 6601 Sfmt 6601 S:\FULL COMMITTEE\HEARING FILES\COMMITTEE PRINT 2018\HENRY\JAN. 9 REPORT FOREI-42327 with DISTILLER 119 Alex Hern, Twitters Response to Brexit Interference Inquiry Inadequate, MP Says The Guardian, Dec. 14, 2017. Email from Facebook Official to Committee Staff. Diana Pilipenko, Facebook must follow the money to uncover extent of Russian meddling The Guardian, Oct. 9, 2017. National Cyber Security Centre of the United Kingdom Government Communications Headquarters, Annual Review (2017). Henry Ridgwell, Britain Invests Billions in Cybersecurity in Face of Russian Threat Voice of America, Nov. 4, 2016; Jamie Grierson, UK Hit by 188 High-Level Cyber-Attacks in Three Months The Guardian, Feb. 12, 2017. William James & Robin Pomeroy, UK Political Parties Warned of Russian Hacking Threat Reuters, Mar. 12, 2017; Richard Kerbaj, Russia Steps Up Cyber-Attacks on UK The Download 0.63 Mb. Share with your friends:
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