Tensions between Russia and Ukraine remain elevated, with a high degree of uncertainty surrounding the likelihood of military conflict and its aftermath. As the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency (CISA) noted in a recent statement on these circumstances, while “there are not currently any specific credible threats to the US homeland,” there is the “potential for the Russian government to consider escalating its destabilizing actions in ways that may impact others outside of Ukraine.”
Heightened risk
There are reports that Russia is leveraging offensive cyber capabilities as the situation between Russia and Ukraine escalates. If the situation draws closer to conflict, these actions may also extend to potential retaliatory cyberattacks, or cyberattack campaigns, against critical physical and cyber infrastructure within countries that provide support to Ukraine. This may seem alarmist, but US and other Western entities have been under considerable attack from Russian-affiliated hacking groups for years. Government officials have long reported that such activities are supported or, at best, overlooked by the Russian government, and commentators and researchers have suggested this helps advance Russia’s political agenda. In June 2021, the sustained high level of these attacks against US critical infrastructure resulted in the US President Biden addressing the matter directly with Russia’s President Putin.
Moreover, events like NotPetya and Conficker have shown us that targeting in cyberspace is rarely precise, and collateral damage from cyberattacks can spread far beyond the original tar ..
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