UK’s National Cyber Force Reveals How It Works

The UK’s National Cyber Force (NCF) has outlined how it counters state threats, disinformation and terrorism, revealing the extent to which it relies on psychological tactics.

The NCF was set up in 2020 as a partnership between spy agency GCHQ and the Ministry of Defence. It’s responsible for online operations to counter threats, disrupting and contesting threats from terrorists, criminals and states using the internet, along with countering cyber security threats.

And in a document titled ‘NCF: Responsible Cyber Power in Practice’, it’s now revealed – to a degree – how it does this.

“Building upon two decades of experience, the dynamic new partnership has countered state threats, made key contributions to military operations, and disrupted terrorist cells and serious criminals including child sex offenders,” says Sir Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ.

“With the threat growing and the stakes higher than ever before, we hope this document provides a benchmark for the UK’s approach and a basis for like-minded governments to come together internationally to establish a shared vision and values for the responsible use of cyber operations.”

The NCF’s approach is centered on the ‘doctrine of cognitive effect’ – aiming to sow distrust, decrease morale, and hinder operations. This, it says, can include preventing terrorist groups from publishing extremist media online or making it harder for states to use the internet to spread disinformation.

While it won’t reveal details of individual operations, it has, it says, worked over the last three years to protect military deployments overseas, disrupt terrorist groups, and counter sophisticated, stealthy and continuous cyber threats.

It has also been able to counter state disinformation campaigns, reduce the threat of external interference in democratic elections, and remove child sexual abuse material from online public spaces.

It does this by, for example, disrupting online platforms and communications systems, or by attempting to influence hostile actors by reaching out to individuals who pose a significant threat to the UK or its allies and attempting to influence their actions in a positive way.

“While the immediate effect of a particular cyber operation may be relatively short lived, the cognitive impact – including a hostile actor’s loss of confidence in their data or technology – can often be longer term,” reads the report.

“Combining several operations, alongside other levers of power, into a campaign for cumulative effect also supports longer term outcomes.”

Often, says the NCF, its targets don’t even realize that the effects they’re experiencing are the result of a cyber operation. But, it claims, “It is our accountable, precise, calibrated and therefore proportionate operations that distinguish us from the large-scale disinformation activities practised by certain of our adversaries.”

For the future, the NCF is calling for more resources – it needs to recruit more staff, attract more technology investment and work with a wider range of partners and allies, including law enforcement, the UK intelligence and security community, government policy departments, and international allies.

“Working across government and with our international allies is vital,” says General Sir Jim Hockenhull, commander of Strategic Command.

“There is a power in partnerships, and we must go further to out-cooperate and out-compete states that are driving instability.”