Russian hackers leak UK military secrets in ‘catastrophic’ MoD cyber breach
Russian hackers have stolen hundreds of classified military documents and leaked them onto the dark web in what UK officials are calling a “catastrophic” cyberattack.
The breach compromised eight Royal Air Force and Royal Navy bases, exposing the names and email addresses of Ministry of Defence (MoD) staff. Investigators believe the attack was carried out by Lynx, a Russian cybercrime group operating on underground forums.
The hackers infiltrated the MoD’s network through a third-party contractor, Dodd Group, which handles maintenance and construction work for several military sites. Targeting the contractor allowed the criminals to bypass the MoD’s strong cyber defences.
The leaked data, now circulating on the dark web, includes information about key RAF and Navy bases such as RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk — home to US F-35 stealth jets and reportedly nuclear weapons — as well as RAF Portreath and RAF Predannack, sites tied to radar systems and drone operations.
Files marked “Controlled” and “Official Sensitive” were among those accessed, revealing details such as staff names, email addresses, car registration plates, and mobile numbers.
A former military intelligence officer described the breach as a “catastrophic security failure,” warning that the scale of the attack would “cause huge alarm” in the United States. Colonel Phil Ingram added, “Any sensitive information, from emails to mobile numbers, will be useful to our enemies. This is yet another embarrassing breach of the MoD’s supply chain, showing outdated systems and a lack of accountability.”
The hackers boasted about “quietly extracting roughly 4TB of data, including material from secured repositories,” and later issued a warning to the Armed Forces: “Time is running out — you have the opportunity to resolve this matter before inevitable consequences unfold.”
So far, two of four planned data dumps have been published, containing internal security guidance, email protocols, visitor logs, and details of private contractors, including Kier, which has been working at RAF Lakenheath.
Cybersecurity experts say the breach not only endangers UK national security but also damages trust among allies. Professor Anthony Glees of the University of Buckingham called it “a double-headed breach” — one that “both exposes critical information to Britain’s enemies and embarrasses its allies, particularly the United States.”
The Ministry of Defence said it is “actively investigating” the incident, adding: “We take a robust and proactive approach to cyber threats that could pose a risk to national interests.”
World Affairs Correspondent
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