Raab welcomes first EU sanctions against cyber actors

Dominic Raab has welcomed the announcement that the EU has imposed sanctions against nine individuals and organisations from North Korea, China and Russia, in the first set of sanctions under the EU’s cyber sanctions regime.

The UK was at the forefront of efforts to establish the EU Cyber Sanctions regime and will continue to implement this regime at the end of the Transition Period, through an autonomous UK Cyber Sanctions regime.

The Foreign Secretary said that these sanctions - which are now in force in the UK - send a strong signal that malicious cyber activity against our European partners and allies has consequences. The sanctions will impose meaningful costs for the reckless behaviour of state and non-state actors through asset freezes and travel bans within the EU, including the UK.

The UK has previously identified the organisations sanctioned for their roles in state sponsored cyber attacks, including: North Korean organisation Chosun Expo for facilitating and supporting the ‘Wannacry’ attack; Chinese organisation Tianjin Huaying Haitai Science and Technology Development Co. Ltd, for facilitating and supporting ‘Cloud Hopper’; and Unit 74455 of the GRU, the Russian military intelligence service, for the ‘NotPetya’ cyber attack in June 2017 and four GRU officers who attempted a cyber attack against the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in 2018.

Raab said: “Today’s actions will raise the cost on malicious cyber activity by state and non-state actors and will help counter future hostile activity in cyberspace. The UK was at the forefront of efforts to establish the EU Cyber Sanctions regime and we will continue to implement this regime after the end of the Transition Period.”