Rafael Amado of cyber security company Digital Shadows said: “Typically, we see increased levels of disinformation activity following major political events. The Middle East in particular is a fertile ground for online disinformation activity, with the Syrian war being one of the most misreported conflicts in recent history.”

“We’ve already seen Russia are very capable cyber actors, typically for traditional espionage,” said Robert Pritchard, a former government cyber security adviser. Mr Pritchard said the spread of misinformation through social media was more recent, and “shows the soft underbelly of our democracy. There is not much the government can do about it.”

Russia also has its own news sites which operate in the UK, Russia Today, its news channel, and Sputnik. Both are sponsored by the Russian government. While they do report real stories, these often come with a pro-Russian slant.

The Russian embassy’s own UK Twitter account is known to tweet out responses to the news of the day, contradicting UK government lines or questioning its authority on stories from the Middle East to the Salisbury poisoning.

Hospitals and emergency services

In 2017 the NHS was brought to its knees by WannaCry ransomware, causing cancellations and delays across 81 health trusts. Following an investigation, the National Audit Office warned NHS managers to beef up their security as further attacks were “inevitable”. While the US and UK later found that North Korea was likely to have been behind the attack, criminal agencies have seen several strains of ransomware linked to Russia.