Britain's cybersecurity agency, the National Cyber Security Center (NCSC), warns that Russian-backed cyber groups operating outside formal Moscow control are a growing threat to critical

infrastructure in the West, especially systems that are "poorly protected."

The NCSC alert, issued on Wednesday, reveals that these groups pose a potential risk to infrastructure in Western countries and that they focus on denial-of-service attacks, defacing websites, and spreading misinformation.

While some have expressed a desire to cause disruptive and destructive impacts against critical national infrastructure in the UK, the NCSC says they are less predictable since they are not subject to formal state control. The agency suggests that organizations "act now to manage the risk against successful future attacks" and recommends necessary precautions. In a speech at a UK cybersecurity conference in Belfast, British Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden will urge companies to take action to defend themselves and the country against the growing cyber threat. Photo by Ecole polytechnique, Wikimedia commons.