Russia has not demonstrated very complex or destructive cyber attacks, and Ukraine is able to withstand attempts to hack its infrastructure, according to a senior Ukrainian cyber official.
“Russia’s cyber-offensive operations have probably reached their full potential, and we believe that the international community will be able to keep them at bay,” said Viktor Zhora, deputy head of Ukraine’s State Special Communications and Information Protection Service, in an interview with reporters. on Wednesday.
“They didn’t offer anything special during those two months,” he said, referring to Russian hackers. Planning sophisticated cyberattacks takes months, and Russia cannot “expand its cyber warriors,” he added.
The number of attempts at cyberattacks and scanning of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, a step hackers are taking to identify security vulnerabilities, has tripled since the start of the war compared to the same period in 2021, Mr Jora said. Russian hackers are trying to hack into the telecommunications and energy sectors and may continue to target these industries, he added.
“We should not underestimate Russian hackers, but we should probably not overestimate their potential, as their potential is not growing now,” he said.
The countries must work together to protect themselves from Russian cybersecurity action, Mr Jora said. One way to limit Russia’s cyber capabilities is through sanctions that limit available technology, he said.
Information technology spending in Russia is expected to fall 39% this year, according to researcher International Data Corp., as global business sanctions sparked by the invasion of Ukraine pay off. Technology giants, including Microsoft Corp., Amazon.com Inc., Amazon Web Services and Alphabet Inc.’s Google Cloud, have said they are stopping new sales or accepting new customers in Russia.
Ukrainian officials said this month they stopped a cyber attack on an electric company that uses code similar to malware known as Industroyer, which was used in an attack on Ukraine’s electricity grid in December 2016. Ukrainian officials said the hacking group Sandworm stands behind the attack. The United States has linked Sandworm to the Russian military, which Russia has consistently denied.
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