Ride the Lightning

DHS Warns Americans to be Prepared for Russian Cyberattacks

January 27, 2022

ZDNet reported on January 24 that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently issued a bulletin to critical infrastructure operators and local governments warning about the potential for cyberattacks launched by the Russian government. These attacks would be in response to any US involvement in a potential war in Ukraine.

The notice said Russia “maintains a range of offensive cyber tools that it could employ against US networks –from low-level denials-of-service to destructive attacks targeting critical infrastructure.”

 “We assess that Russia would consider initiating a cyber attack against the Homeland if it perceived a US or NATO response to a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine threatened its long-term national security,” the bulletin said.

DHS sent the memo to state governments, local governments, and operators of critical infrastructure.

CNN reported that in addition to the DHS memo, multiple government agencies have been in contact with private sector companies and organizations to issue similar warnings. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has also warned of possible Russian cyberattack following multiple incidents in Ukraine over the last two weeks.

The alert said Russian state-sponsored actors have targeted a variety of the US and international critical infrastructure organizations over the years and made specific references to previously reported attacks by Russian groups on critical infrastructure in Ukraine.

CISA issued another warning last week urging all US organizations to shore up defenses “now” in response to website defacements and destructive malware targeting Ukraine government websites and IT systems.

Specifically, CISA recommended that organizations implement multi-factor authentication for remote systems, disable ports and access points that are not business-critical, and put strong controls in place for cloud services.

Law firms, take heed. We have been a frequent target for some time.

Sharon D. Nelson, Esq., President, Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
3975 University Drive, Suite 225, Fairfax, VA 22030
Email: Phone: 703-359-0700
Digital Forensics/Cybersecurity/Information Technology
https://senseient.com
https://twitter.com/sharonnelsonesq
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharondnelson
https://amazon.com/author/sharonnelson