When tensions on the border erupted into all-out war, did cybersecurity experts see a commensurate increase in Russian cyberattacks?
“Attribution is the hardest part of cybersecurity. While we can take very secure guesses about who is carrying out an attack, it is usually very hard to provide definitive evidence to tie an attack to a specific country,” said Ryan Cloutier, president of risk assessment firm SecurityStudio.“Russia has a sophisticated cyber intelligence community and can carry out attacks that are much more complex than other nations, and given the nature of the sanctions being doled out by Western countries, we expect to see attacks from Russia propagate.”
“We are seeing cybercriminals use Russia and Ukraine-centric social engineering efforts, like phishing emails, leveraging current events to solicit an emotional response to the war,” says Ros Smothers, former CIA cyber threat analyst and technical intelligence officer, now at KnowBe4. “In other words, people are less likely to think before they click.”
