Cyber ​​attacks: the other battlefront that could break out between the US and Russia

With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, toughened this Friday the measures taken against the Russian government, also adding President Vladimir Putin and his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to the list of sanctioned officials.

The confrontation between the two powers, the United States and Russia, has been on two battlefields: diplomatic and economic, but among the Americans there is fear that the offensive will turn to cyber attacks, a place where the Russians have shown great ability by leaving some damage in the past.

As reported by CNN on Tuesday, “A senior FBI cyber official warned US businesses and local governments that they should be on the lookout for potential ransomware attacks , just days after multiple US agencies issued a similar warning. executives of major US banks.”

Among the precedents of cyber attacks on the infrastructure of the United States are: “the SolarWinds hack that infiltrated several government agencies in 2020, the ransomware attack that forced the closure of one of the largest fuel pipelines in the United States States for several days last year and another attack on one of the world’s largest meat producers, JBS .

It is important to understand that ransomware is a class of malware that poses a risk to devices. “Ransom” is an English word that means “ransom”. Ransomware is extortion software : its purpose is to prevent you from using the device until a ransom has been paid”, according to the Kaspersky firm portal.

Although these attacks are not directly related to the Russian government, the US authorities hypothesize that the hackers have the “blessing” of Russia. “They don’t operate directly for the Russian government, but they operate under a set of rules that says, ‘you do what you want…don’t target Russian stuff and we won’t bother you,'” said Herb Lin, senior policy researcher and cyber security at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University , in words collected by CNN.

Banks would be targeted by cyberattacks, said George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike. “I talked to a lot of banks recently, a lot of top executives, and they’re concerned,” said Kurtz, who leads the cloud-focused cybersecurity firm, which works with 14 of the 20 largest U.S. banks, as well . It was highlighted by the CNBC portal .

“They’re very concerned about what could happen here, and they should be,” Kurtz said, because virus cleaners are “designed to basically wipe out a system. When we think about cyber, there is no limit to collateral damage, ”warned the CEO of CrowdStrike in his dialogue with CNBC.

US officials believe Russian agents may be behind cyberattacks against Ukrainian government websites this month, most recently on Wednesday, in which some Ukrainian banks were victims.

Precisely on February 16, the Kremlin denied any involvement in the cyberattacks against several official Ukrainian military websites and two public banks.

“Russia has nothing to do with any cyber attack,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said, estimating that it is “predictable that Ukraine will continue to accuse Russia of everything.”

Ukraine said on Tuesday, February 15, that several official military websites and those of two major state banks were the target of a cyberattack .

Kurtz explained to CNBC that the United States and Russia have all the capabilities to have a cyber confrontation ; and he added that governments and corporations “have to be prepared” because in modern warfare cyber attacks will be a powerful weapon.

Analyst George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, noted that “the banks, from an industry perspective, have done a great job. There is a lot of regulation around what they do”, to highlight that banking entities have the infrastructure to defend themselves against attacks. “Fortunately, they have the money to implement mature cybersecurity technology,” Kurtz said.

According to the Vox portal , Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine have been present for several years, but the question that analysts are asking is whether these attacks will also be directed at the United States.

“If Russia carries out cyberattacks against our businesses, our critical infrastructure, we are prepared to respond,” said President Biden, noting that his administration has been working with the private sector “for months to prepare for Russian cyberattacks and responses to the same”, in words collected by the Vox portal .

Experts quoted by the Vox website stress that the US is prepared for the possibility of a cyberattack by Russia.

“In reality, it would be a surprise if the US defensive postures were not already in place,” said Purandar Das, CEO of Sotero, a data security software company, in words collected by Vox . “It is very likely that the government has deployed its defense mechanisms.”

For his part, George Perera, associate director of cybersecurity law at the University of St. Thomas, stated that a possible Russian attack would be directed at critical infrastructure, which implies that “it would be devastating” for the American nation if they have successful this offensive.

“Potentially drinking water, electricity, financial markets, to name a few, could be lost,” Perera explained, but stressed that the United States has the capacity to defend itself against these attacks.

Josef Schroefl, deputy director of strategy and defense at the European Center of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats, commented that Russia “has managed to evade much of the responsibility for cyberattacks,” also noting that in “conventional warfare, attribution is often be simple”, but identifying the perpetrators of cyberattacks is not easy, “it is very complex, and it can be time consuming and costly”, Schroefl warned.