More Cyber-Attacks on the Horizon

There is an English ballad which was first published in the 1640’s titled, The World Turned Upside Down. Many believe the current international geo-political atmosphere meets this time aged ballad. The US has publicly accused Russia of being responsible for last week’s cyber-attacks targeting Ukraine’s defense ministry and major banks. Now some experts believe Russia could escalate malicious cyber activity and conduct sophisticated cyber-attacks on the West too. If this occurs, the attacks would be in direct contradiction to security demands in relation to NATO's fragile ties with Ukraine. This would likely include attacks on EU and US banks to inflict economic chaos on the international economic system. The European Central Bank (ECB) has already instructed banks to conduct cyber war games to test their ability to fend off a potential attack. Additionally, many financial regulators are on high alert for a new cyber strike. The British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is warning UK banks to stress test their cyber defenses as fears grow of Russian-sponsored cyber-attacks amid tensions in Ukraine.[1]

Earlier this year, multiple Ukrainian websites were hit by a cyber strike that left a warning to 'be afraid and expect the worst', as Russia amassed more than 130,000 troops near their borders, as of 18 February 2022. Ukraine's state security service said it saw signs the attack was linked to hacker groups associated with Russian intelligence services. Russia has consistently denied that it has anything to do with hacking exploits, however, Britain's National Cyber Security Centre has warned large organizations to increase their cyber security resilience during the rise in tensions over Ukraine. On 21 February 2022, Russia escalated the ante as Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine after Putin declared these regions as Russian and issued their independence from Ukraine.[2] Russia is claiming its troops are "peace keppers." Being on high alert is now an understatement.

The US Government has blamed Russia for the devastating cyberattack in 2017, when a virus crippled parts of Ukraine's infrastructure, taking down thousands of computers in dozens of countries. These vulnerabilities were again underscored last year, when one of the biggest ever hacking campaigns used the US SolarWinds IT Services company as a launch pad to compromise many US government agencies. This wide ranging attack gave hackers access to thousands of companies using its service and into Europe.

Russia has assembled troops and armored vehicles in combat formation on annexed Crimea near mainland Ukraine, in Belarus to the north and the Russian/Ukraine border in the East. This almost surrounds Ukraine. Russia’s continued war games will do little to reduce fears of an impending invasion. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a conflict since 2014, when Ukraine's Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east of the country. The fighting between Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has allegedly killed over 14,000 people.

In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk Agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict. Russia has repeatedly accused Kyiv of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it would hurt Ukraine. A World Turned Upside Down.

A military invasion would likely land Russia with its own economic sanctions, but insiders fear Russia may strike first and try to disrupt the West's economic structures and cause energy prices to rise. The ECB, led by former French minister Christine Lagarde and which has oversight of Europe's biggest lenders, has already diverted its attention from regular scams to cyberattacks launched from Russia, according to sources.

Red Sky Alliance is a Cyber Threat Analysis and Intelligence Service organization who has long collected and analyzed cyber indicators. For questions, comments or assistance, please contact the office directly at 1-844-492-7225, or feedback@wapacklabs.com

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