British Army to train cyber spies to combat hackers and digital propaganda

Cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns by states, governments and terror groups, among others, has grown in recent years.

By Sanya Burgess, news reporter,

Image: A laptop infected by a ransomware in 2017. File photo

The British Army will adapt to better tackle the threat of cyber warfare, including hackers, digital propaganda and misinformation, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.
A unit called the Sixth Division will be reintroduced as part of plans to "rebalance the Field Army… [to] defeat adversaries both above and below the threshold of conventional conflict", the MoD stated.
Troops recruited into the division will be trained in intelligence gathering and covert surveillance, as well as a range of cyber skills.
The changes come after the UK used online warfare to counter the IS message in northern Iraq, in which the terrorist group used digital resources to recruit and radicalise people across the world.

Image: Troops will be trained in cyberskills

Lieutenant General Ivan Jones, Commander of the Field Army, said: "The character of warfare continues to change as the boundaries between conventional and unconventional warfare become increasingly blurred.

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"The Army must remain adaptable and evolve as a fighting force.

"The speed of change is moving at a remarkable rate and it will only get faster and more complex."

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The use of cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns by states, governments and terror groups, among others, has grown in recent years.
One such recent example emerged when sources linked to Russia shared fake stories of poor conduct by British Army soldiers during a military exercise in Croatia.
Despite the restructure, the MoD say there will be no changes in personnel numbers or funding.