Nicola Sturgeon sent IndyRef2 warning as Russian hackers poised to ‘destabilise’ UK

Sturgeon criticised by Hoy for blaming Brexit and Covid

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Ciaran Martin, the former head of cyber security at GCHQ, fears a “hack-and-leak” operation by Russia could target Scottish politics like the one that damaged Hilary Clinton in 2016. He says the Kremlin is interested in “the destabilisation of Western societies in any political debate” and that included Scottish independence or any “future relations with Europe”. Mr Martin, now a professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnick School of Government, took part in multiple operations countering cyber attacks on Britain.

He told The Herald that a hostile state a hostile state might target the emails of someone like Ms Sturgeon, or her opposition during a second vote campaign.

The expert pointed to the cyber attack on the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency last Christmas as “a barometer of vulnerability”.

He added: “In terms of the resilience of key services and companies, there’s verifiable evidence that Scotland is at risk.

“Hacking is a strategic threat and political interference is on the list.

“Organisations connected with politics in the UK, including Scotland, have to think about the protection of politically sensitive information from that sort of operation.”

Mr Martin previously set up and led its National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

During that time, his unit “did some work” evaluating these risks in 2017 “in the aftermath of what happened in America”.

He highlighted Russia and China as the “top two” threats to the “West when it comes to cyber attack, but they’ve very different motivations and methods”.

He explained: “Russia is less prolific than China, but has the most elite capabilities.

“Russia is acting from the position of declining power but it’s a very sophisticated digital spy.”

And these threats could become more serious.

Mr Martin says that Russia tends not to act dangerously or “recklessly” in the West, although elsewhere it’s different and the Kremlin can be “pretty nasty”.

In 2015, Russia shut down power in Kiev for six hours in midwinter, putting lives at risk.

He added: “It was destructive, it gives you a sense of what they can do.”

Ms Sturgeon has urged the UK government to agree to a new Scottish independence referendum, saying that “democracy must and will prevail”.

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The Scottish First Minister addressed the SNP’s virtual conference the day after her predecessor, Alex Salmond, told his new Alba Party that the independence movement was stuck in “Groundhog Day”.

Ms Sturgeon called for another referendum by the end of 2023, should the COVID pandemic permit.

But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has previously signalled he does not support a second Scottish referendum.

When asked about the issue in March, Mr Johnson said: “When you ask people to vote on a highly controversial and divisive issue, an issue that breaks up family relationships, that is extremely toxic and divisive, and you tell them this is going to happen only once in a generation, I think you should stick to it.”

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