Nigel Farage’s Russian hack claim ‘without any merit’, former NCSC chief says

Nigel Farage’s claim that a Russian hack was behind a Guardian report on the £5m gift he received from a crypto billionaire has been described as “without any merit” by a former head of the National Cyber Security Centre. Ciaran Martin, founding chief executive of the agency, which is part of GCHQ, said Farage’s allegation, if true, would have major implications for UK policy towards Russia but that the Reform UK leader had yet to provide “a shred of evidence”. It is understood that Farage is yet to ask the NCSC to investigate his apparent belief that the Guardian’s revelation of the multimillion-pound donation by crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne was the result of a Russian “hack-and-leak” operation. Martin said such an operation by the Kremlin would amount to an “unprecedentedly aggressive intervention” into Britain’s democracy and that Farage should both contact the NCSC to investigate and make public the technical evidence he has for his claim. Martin said: “An aspiring prime minister has essentially claimed that Russia has launched an unprecedentedly aggressive intervention – a malicious intervention – in British politics, and he’s not produced a shred of evidence to support that claim. “He’s made a serious foreign policy and national security allegation which if true would have massive implications for British policy towards Russia. “It is a very, very serious thing to allege. It would be a national security issue. …