On February 24, 2022, Russian forces initiated a series of
deadly attacks on Ukrainian cities, resulting in an ongoing
military conflict. Preceding these physical attacks were a number
of cybersecurity attacks directed at Ukrainian organizations and
infrastructure, which have occupied a growing role in the Russian
military playbook both in Ukraine and in other countries. Western
governments have imposed a suite of economic sanctions against
Russia as a result of the physical attack on Ukraine.
On March 21, 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden warned that
Russian-backed hacking groups could attempt to retaliate against
these western sanctions by undertaking a campaign of cybersecurity
attacks against western organizations. "One of the tools
[Putin is] most likely to use ... is cyber attacks," noted
President Biden. Citing U.S. intelligence leads, the President
cautioned that the "magnitude of Russia's cyber capacity
is fairly consequential and it's coming," and urged
organizations to "harden your cybersecurity defences
immediately."
All organizations should take immediate proactive measures to
review their cyber preparedness with a view to identifying
information security weaknesses and hardening their defences.
Depending on the IT environment of the organization, these steps
may include reviewing and updating privacy, password, patching and
other policies, reviewing customer and supplier agreements for
requirements related to information security, and preparing a data
map to understand what types of data are stored by the organization
and where (i.e., on what systems). While no protective measures
will prevent 100 per cent of cyber attacks, often a little
attention can go a long way towards mitigating damage to one's
business.
In addition to hardening one's own defences, organizations
should also pay attention to the information security and
cybersecurity posture of the organizations in its supply chain, as
attacks can rapidly propagate from one organization's
environment to another. In other words, an attack may spread
from a trusted partner that was the initial target of the
attack. In many cases, the initial point of entry of malware comes
in the form of an email from a trusted source.
Information and cybersecurity risks are not simply a concern for an
organization's IT department; they are part of an
organization's overall risk strategy, and should be evaluated
and managed by its leadership team and not solely by its IT
department.
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