Ciaran Martin said  that the UK is being threatened by crooks and by spooks that are taking aim at major infrastructure segments.

Martin said that it was certain that Russian hacking attempts were an attempt to “undermine the international system”.

Compared to hacking by crime syndicates, hacking by other nations is far more sophisticated, Martin said.

Earlier this week, UK prime minister Theresa May spoke publicly about Russian attempts to subvert British systems, a claim that the country denies.

Yesterday, reports emerged that Russia had attempted to influence the result of a referendum last year in which British voters had the choice of whether the United Kingdom would leave or stay in the European Union.

[Pictures of Kremlin and Putin when he was in the KGB courtesy of Wikipedia.]