"UK Warns of Russian Hackers Targeting Critical Infrastructure"

The UK government’s intelligence and security arm recently issued an alert on Russian state-aligned threat actors aiming to conduct disruptive and destructive attacks against critical infrastructure in Western countries.  The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) stated that recently these threat groups have focused on distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, defacements, and misinformation attacks.  The NCSC warns that some have stated a desire to achieve a more disruptive and destructive impact against Western critical national infrastructure (CNI), including in the UK.  The agency believes these groups will focus on identifying poorly protected critical infrastructure systems to cause disruptions.  The NCSC noted that threat actors that pose a threat include not only groups that are actually sponsored by the Russian government but also hacktivists that are sympathetic to Russia.  Aligned with Moscow’s interests, these threat actors support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, are ideologically motivated, and may not be subject to formal state control, which makes them less predictable, as their targeting is broader compared to that of cybercriminal groups.  The NCSC believes these groups are not sophisticated enough and lack the resources to launch destructive attacks on their own.  The agency says that without external assistance, they consider it unlikely that these groups have the capability to deliberately cause a destructive, rather than disruptive, impact in the short term.  Nonetheless, the NCSC notes that these groups may become more effective over time and recommends that organizations take the necessary precautions to prepare themselves for potential attacks.

SecurityWeek reports: "UK Warns of Russian Hackers Targeting Critical Infrastructure"