Russian Cyberattacks soon to Bomb Ukraine Energy Sector

Ukraine Says Russia is planning cyberattacks on critical infrastructure

Russia is planning to continue its offensive into Ukraine with cyberattacks on critical infrastructure and the country's energy sector, as well as against allies including Poland and the Baltic states. The attacks will be similar to those that targeted Ukraine's energy supplies in 2015 and 2016. Kremlin-backed hackers are planning to carry out massive cyberattacks on the critical infrastructure facilities of Ukrainian enterprises. After energy supply operations are crippled by cyberattacks, the Russian military plans to ramp up missile strikes on those facilities to shut down the electrical service throughout the war-battered country.

Russian Cyberattacks on Ukraine:

Ukraine also claims that Russia intends to increase the intensity of distributed denial-of-service attacks on the critical infrastructure of its closest allies. Multiple enterprise security vendors have documented various aspects of the digital cyberattacks in Ukraine with Microsoft warning of civilian digital targets and Symantec confirming the disk-wiping attacks preceded the Russian invasion.

Russia may launch a new series of cyberattacks in its worsening strategic situation in Ukraine, with ground previously taken in the earlier days of the invasion recently lost to Ukrainian advances. Ukraine and its allies should focus first and best on educating everyone to recognize the signs of social engineering attacks. The Kremlin also intends to increase the intensity of DDoS attacks on the critical infrastructure of Ukraine's closest allies, primarily Poland and the Baltic states.

The new malware which goes by the names Industroyer and Crash Override was notable for its mastery of the arcane industrial processes used by Ukraine's grid operators. Russia is under enormous pressure and cyberattacks may give them the means to respond without risking serious military consequences. There is no single defense that can do as much to put down the most common hacker and malware attacks as preventing social engineering."