The War in Ukraine: Pulse of Cyber Defense (April 11, 2022)

 

The State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine: The War in Ukraine: Pulse of Cyber Defense – Weekly analytics, April 11, 2022

UKRAINIAN CYBERHUB

The largest since World War II, war on the European continent continues not only on the land and in the air, but also in cyberspace. The State Service of Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine is responsible for the standards of cybersecurity in the country and takes an active part in its defense. The lessons of this war are extremely important for enhancing the protection of democratic states attacked by aggressive countries like russia.

In this regard, the SSSCIP initiates making available a public analytical report on the state and means of cyber defense. The SSSCIP CyberHub will make public its data and conclusions that may be used by the global cyber community for their own defense.

During the first month and a half of war, Ukraine has suffered 362 cyber attacks. It is three times more as compared to the same period of the previous year (122 cyber attacks).

45 DAYS OF CYBER FRONT

Highlights

• A month and a half of war: situation is escalating on the cyber front;
• Cyber front trends: russia uses military hackers in the attempts to pursue their political ambitions; russian military hackers are targeting civilians and the EU countries; the data obtained as a result of phishing attacks is further used for the purposes of cyber aggression;
• Ukrainian critical infrastructure defense: how Ukrenergo repulses cyber attacks and what happened to Ukrtelecom on March 28;
• Five tips for Ukrainian and international companies on how to counter the RF aggression on the cyber front.

DETAILS
russia’s cyberwar strategy and tactics

russia has been waging a war against Ukraine for eight years already both on the ground and in the cyberspace. During all this time, we have been witnessing escalation. Probably every cyber defense expert knows what BlackEnergy, NotPetya, attack13 cyber-attacks are.

A MONTH AND A HALF OF WAR:
SITUATION ON THE CYBER FRONT
During the first month and a half of war, Ukraine has suffered 362 cyber attacks. It is three times more as compared to the same period of the previous year (122 cyber attacks).

Cyber attacks on the government and local authorities, security and defense and commercial organizations accounted for a half of the total number. Over a half of attacks were made for the purpose of data collection or distribution of malware.

FIVE CYBERWAR TRENDS

1. russian military hackers make cyber attacks to pursue the political ambitions of their country’s leadership (Cyberattack at Ukrtelecom on March 28; Ukrenergo in war: the number of attacks tripled to stop the connection to the European energy system; Heavy cyberattack on Ukraine’s energy sector)
2. Cyber attacks as one more way of spreading false information and propaganda
3. Phishing attacks against civilians
4. Hackers attacking public authorities in Ukraine also attack the EU Member States
5. russian hackers use the data obtained through phishing e-mails to make further attacks on the critical information infrastructure

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
In view of the experience gained by Ukraine in fighting the russian war machine, the SSSCIP is willing to share its recommendations with the states that plan to strengthen their defense against the RF pernicious influence.

• Invest in the simplest defenses
• Identify your cyber defense weaknesses and strengthen them
• Each Ukrainian is at risk
• Physical security of the critical information infrastructure users is as important as the protection of their accounts

In addition, we’d like to remind that the SSSCIP State Cybersecurity Centre and the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA), jointly with the teams of the best Ukrainian cybersecurity companies and the world’s major producers of solutions provide comprehensive assistance in establishing multiple-tiered cyber defense systems of the IT infrastructure for institutions and organizations, irrespective of ownership.

It is free of charge.

All of us must stay resilient to external challenges, continue providing services to people and ensure the functioning of the business and the economy in whole.