UK Launches ‘Kill Web’ Linking Cyber Operations and Military

The United Kingdom pledged Thursday one billion pounds for a military “Digital Targeting Web” the government said will enable quick fire targeting of enemy assets, including through offensive cyber operations.

See Also: OnDemand | North Korea’s Secret IT Army and How to Combat It

The Ministry of Defense said it will house the capability in a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command that will lead defensive cyber operations and coordinate offensive cyber operations with the National Cyber Force.

The ministry said it recorded more than 90,000 “sub-threshold” attacks in the last two years. “Ways of warfare are rapidly changing – with the U.K. facing daily cyberattacks on this new frontline,” said Defense Secretary John Healey sai (see: Possible Russian Hackers Targeted UK Ministry of Defense).

Speaking Wednesday to reporters from MOD Corsham, site of the military Cyber Security Operations Centre, Healey called the United Kingdom a country “under daily attack, increasing attacks and this is the nerve center of the U.K.’s military that helps us defend against these attacks. The keyboard has become a weapon of war,” reported The Telegraph.

The command will be headed by General James Hockenhull, a senior British Army officer. The government is taking a “necessary response to elevated cyberthreats,” said Joseph Devanny, a senior national security studies lecturer at King’s College London.

“The new announcement should lead to better integration of the Armed Forces’ efforts in cyber defense and could presumably also help to improve coordination with the [National Cyber Force], but until we learn more, we will not know precisely how this objective will be achieved,” Devanny added.

A decennial Strategic Defense Review set for publication Monday calls for the Digital Targeting Web – already tagged with the nickname “kill web” – to be online by 2027, the government said.,

The capability draws on lessons learned from Ukraine’s experience in rebuffing a Russian invasion force. Data will be combined with electromagnetic warfare intelligence for capabilities such as signal jamming and communications interception, the ministry said.

The capabilities will grant the U.K. Armed Forces the ability to respond to threats at “speeds never seen before,” and will facilitate information sharing between aircraft, tanks and operators “instantly,” Healey added.

Western governments have become increasingly open to offensive cyber operations as evidence of nation-state hacking by adversaries such as Russia and China continue to accumulate (see: NATO Countries Targeted By New Russian Espionage Group).

The U.S. and select European governments have carried out operations against cybercriminals that dismantles infrastructure and patches infected computers. The Biden administration in 2023 classified ransomware as a national security threat. A top Trump administration cybersecurity official recently said offensive operations should be a more common response to foreign hacking.