As the conflict invasion of Ukraine by Russia escalates, we continue to see reports that Russia and sympathizing threat actors are leveraging offensive cyber capabilities against countries and organizations that oppose or sanction their efforts. These actions have included retaliatory cyberattacks, as well as cyber attack campaigns against critical physical and cyber infrastructure.
But it’s not only Russian actors causing the concern. There are also opportunistic adversaries taking advantage of the situation to undertake ‘crisis hijacking’, in the form of operating fake funding or credential farming campaigns.
It is critical that businesses not only understand their current cybersecurity preparedness, but take swift action wherever possible. But, where should you start?
On March 04, 2022, our Director of Product Marketing, Aaron McIntosh, sat down with ActZero’s Chief Security Officer, Adama Mansour to discuss what cybersecurity professionals seeing in terms of attacks related to the conflict, what ActZero is doing, or can do to help, and what steps small and medium-sized businesses can take to prepare and protect your organization. Here is a summary of their discussion.
What types of attacks are we seeing occur thus far?
There are no bounds to the types of attacks and techniques that may be used by adversaries. Here is a shortlist of what we are already seeing across the industry. To date, we’ve seen no signs of attack on our own clients.
- DDOS Attacks: Designed to disrupt organizational operations
- Misinformation campaigns: Posting and spreading of misinformation relating to the invasion in an attempt to sway public opinion, and protect correct information from reaching Russian citizens
- Crisis hijacking: Fake fundraising campaigns (disguised as reputable organizations to take financial advantage of unsuspecting users); Fake ‘submit your support’ campaigns (used to harvest individual and businesses information)
For more on what you can do to minimize the risk, read our threat insight report below!