’Significant’ damage caused by cyber attack on Defence Academy

Air Marshal Edward Stringer has said that a cyber attack on the UK’s Defence Academy, discovered in March 2021, caused ‘significant’ damage.

Stringer, who left the armed forces in August, told Sky News that the attack meant that the Defence Academy was forced to rebuild its network. He said he did not know if criminals or a hostile state were responsible but the damage has yet to be fully rectified months on.

Sky News reported that no sensitive information was stored on the academy’s network.

Stringer said: “It could be any of those or it could just be someone trying to find a vulnerability for a ransomware attack that was just, you know, a genuine criminal organisation.

“There were costs to … operational output. There were opportunity costs in what our staff could have been doing when they were having to repair this damage. And what could we be spending the money on that we’ve had to bring forward to rebuild the network? There are not bodies in the streets but there’s still been some damage done.”