The head of MI5 is to urge the public to be as vigilant about threats from “hostile states” as from terrorism.
These include disruptive cyber-attacks, misinformation, espionage and interference in politics – and are usually linked to Russia and China.
In a speech on Wednesday, Ken McCallum will say these “less visible threats… have the potential to affect us all”.
He will say these threats are affecting UK jobs and public services and could even lead to a loss of life.
The head of the Security Service wants to challenge the idea that activity by so-called “hostile states”, usually taken to mean primarily Russia and China, only affects governments or certain institutions.
Instead, he will argue, in an annual threat update, that the British public are not immune to the “tentacles” of covert action by other states.
In the speech at MI5’s Thames House headquarters, Mr McCallum will warn the “consequences range from frustration and inconvenience, through loss of livelihood, potentially up to loss of life”.
Terrorism has dominated MI5’s agenda for the last two decades. That danger has not gone away but MI5 is now also dealing with a broader range of threats as well.
These include cyber attacks. China is often accused of seeking to steal information for commercial gain but Russia and China have both been accused in the last year by Western governments of targeting vaccine research – allegations they have denied.
The warning comes amid growing fears that cyber-attacks by states, or by criminal groups sheltered by states such as Russia, could take down critical infrastructure like water or power or healthcare leading to a loss of life.
In 2017, a cyber-attack linked to North Korea took down parts of the NHS, affecting appointments, and a recent attack linked to criminals in Russia took down a pipeline supplying half the fuel to America’s East Coast.
As well as claims it may have tried to increase scepticism about the Oxford vaccine, Russia was directly accused by the government of trying to influence the 2019 general election and was linked to interference in the US 2016 election.
The government faced criticism for delays in releasing the so-called Russia Report from the Intelligence and Security Committee which looked at this.
When it was released last summer, it said there had been a failure to investigate interference from Moscow in the Brexit referendum. Moscow has dismissed the accusations.
‘Discoveries stolen or copied’
Traditional espionage – spies stealing secrets – also continues, but sometimes in a more modern way.
One example comes with foreign spies targeting people over professional networking sites like LinkedIn, often associated with China.
Fake profiles are used to try and lure them into passing over sensitive information. MI5 recently launched a campaign called “Think before you Link” to raise awareness.
“We have seen over 10,000 disguised approaches from foreign spies to regular people in the UK, seeking to manipulate them,” Ken McCallum will say, referring to a five-year period.
“UK victims of state espionage range way wider than just government. We see the UK’s brilliant universities and researchers having their discoveries stolen or copied; we see businesses hollowed out by the loss of advantage they’ve worked painstakingly to build.
“Given half a chance, hostile actors will short-circuit years of patient British research or investment. This is happening at scale. And it affects us all. UK jobs, UK public services, UK futures,” the MI5 head will say.
‘If you are working in a high-tech business, or engaged in cutting-edge scientific research, or exporting into certain markets, you will be of interest – more interest than you might think – to foreign spies,” he will say, arguing people should be “switched on” rather than scared.
Mr McCallum will call for a response across government and society, including increased public vigilance.
“We must, over time, build the same public awareness and resilience to state threats that we have done over the years on terrorism,” he will say.
The government is currently consulting on new legislation to counter hostile state activity, including a requirement for those working for foreign governments to register and updates to the laws surrounding espionage and secrets.
Encryption concerns
This is the second annual threat update since Mr McCallum became Director General of MI5 in April 2020.
He is also expected to address the current terrorism threat – including Islamist extremism and Northern Ireland activity as well as that from the far right, which MI5 recently became involved in monitoring.
Other subjects he will cover include the withdrawal of UK forces from Afghanistan. Some analysts worry it could lead to a resurgence from Al Qaeda, which plotted the September 2001 attacks from the country.
The MI5 chief is also likely to reiterate concerns over the spread of end-to-end encryption by tech companies such as Facebook.
The companies say their technology helps protect users’ privacy by ensuring no one but the sender and recipient can read a message, but the authorities argue this will pose a challenge to public safety because they can no longer demand companies hand over the contents.
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