• Latest
  • Trending
Why It’s Time to Talk About Nation-State Attacks Again

Why It’s Time to Talk About Nation-State Attacks Again

December 1, 2021
Lenovo’s 16-inch ThinkPad claims desktop-like performance with 55 W Intel CPU

Lenovo’s 16-inch ThinkPad claims desktop-like performance with 55 W Intel CPU

May 18, 2022
Testing shows AMD’s FSR 2.0 can even help lowly Intel integrated GPUs

Testing shows AMD’s FSR 2.0 can even help lowly Intel integrated GPUs

May 18, 2022
Tesla announces the date for its second AI day

Tesla announces the date for its second AI day

May 18, 2022
AMD and Qualcomm to Optimize FastConnect Connectivity for AMD Ryzen Processors

AMD and Qualcomm to Optimize FastConnect Connectivity for AMD Ryzen Processors

May 18, 2022
Ericsson to Take Part at GSMA’s Mobile 360 Convention in Riyadh

Ericsson to Take Part at GSMA’s Mobile 360 Convention in Riyadh

May 18, 2022
InterSAT and SES renew partnership to accelerate digital inclusion across Africa

InterSAT and SES renew partnership to accelerate digital inclusion across Africa

May 18, 2022
Applications open for Google Black Founders Fund Africa

Applications open for Google Black Founders Fund Africa

May 18, 2022
Hackers nail Zambia’s Central Bank

Hackers nail Zambia’s Central Bank

May 18, 2022
Western Digital UltraStar DC SN650 NVMe SSDs Announced

Western Digital UltraStar DC SN650 NVMe SSDs Announced

May 18, 2022
OWC Announces Envoy Pro mini Pocket-Sized USB-C and USB-A SSD

OWC Announces Envoy Pro mini Pocket-Sized USB-C and USB-A SSD

May 18, 2022
Transcend Grade 112-Layer 3D NAND SSDs With DRAM Cache

Transcend Grade 112-Layer 3D NAND SSDs With DRAM Cache

May 18, 2022
VMware Certification for Pavilion NVMe-oF Flash Array

VMware Certification for Pavilion NVMe-oF Flash Array

May 18, 2022
  • Consumer Watch
  • Kids Page
  • Directory
  • Events
  • Reviews
Thursday, 19 May, 2022
  • Login
itechnewsonline.com
  • Home
  • Tech
  • Africa Tech
  • InfoSEC
  • Data Science
  • Data Storage
  • Business
  • Opinion
Subscription
Advertise
No Result
View All Result
itechnewsonline.com
No Result
View All Result

Why It’s Time to Talk About Nation-State Attacks Again

by ITECHNEWS
December 1, 2021
in Opinion
0 0
0
Why It’s Time to Talk About Nation-State Attacks Again

Ransomware has been the cyber story of the year so far, just as it was in 2020 when the pandemic struck. It has all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster: shadowy criminal groups, eye-catching breaches and increasingly tragic outcomes. But in our myopic focus on digital extortion, we risk ignoring an area of the threat landscape that arguably has a more significant impact on our daily lives – one that’s growing in intensity all the time. 

Few security vendors want to talk about nation-state attacks. Even fewer are confident enough to attribute threat campaigns. Yet, it is ultimately citizens and businesses that are caught in the middle – if not by state-sponsored attacks themselves, then by the cybercrime campaigns they help to inspire. 

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

When Your Smart ID Card Reader Comes With Malware

Your social media account hasn’t been hacked, it’s been cloned!

From Stuxnet to Ghostwriter

Stuxnet was arguably the coming-out party for nation-state cyber-attacks. It highlighted for the first time the kinetic power that mere pieces of code could unleash. Yet, there were other lessons learned by observers of the campaign. It pitted nation against nation but with a technical ingenuity that enabled plausible deniability – the key to avoiding a major diplomatic incident. If US and Israeli bombers or special forces had attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, the result could have been a full-scale war.

Since then, state-backed attacks have come thick and fast, with an increasingly direct impact on otherwise blameless parties. Three recent campaigns reported on by Recorded Future tell the story of this escalation. The Chinese state-sponsored RedEcho campaign reported in February included pre-positioning attacks on India’s energy sector, which could be a precursor to kinetic escalation if relations between the two countries deteriorate further. Russian campaigns against Ukrainian power providers in the past have shown the destructive power of such attacks.

Then there was the state-backed raid on the Port of Houston in September. Although no operational systems appear to have been affected, we can all imagine the chaos that could be wreaked on supply chains with a well-timed compromise at a major port or airport. Perhaps most chilling were revelations over the Kremlin-backed Ghostwriter group, whom the EU blamed for trying to hack lawmakers’ accounts to spread fake news ahead of critical elections. Disinformation campaigns of this sort are a Kremlin specialty that were deployed to devastating effect in the 2016 US presidential election. 

Why It Matters

Geopolitics can seem like a remote set of events taking place on a stage too vast to comprehend. Nevertheless, the decisions that are made in government offices and operation centers around the globe reverberate down to us all on a regular occurrence. NotPetya and WannaCry caused billions of pounds in losses and brought organizations as diverse as global shipper Maersk and the NHS almost to their knees. The distrust that Russia has helped to sow online over recent years has led democracy in the United States into a perilous place, where both major political parties now believe the other has cheated its way to victory. Dis and misinformation campaigns about COVID-19 directly cost lives.

The fear is that without accepted norms in cyber-space – something most experts believe is a pipe dream – kinetic escalation is inevitable. President Biden seemed to acknowledge this when he warned recently that if the US ended up in a “real shooting war” with another major power, it would probably result from a major cyber-breach.

There’s more. The fact is that the tools and techniques used by nation-state actors more often than not end up in the hands of cybercrime groups. That’s partly because the line between the two is increasingly blurred. We recently pointed out the close ties between Russian intelligence and the cybercrime underground in the country. Meanwhile, a majority (58%) of experts consulted for a report earlier this year claimed it’s becoming more common for governments to recruit cyber-criminals to carry out attacks. Previous reports have suggested that some Chinese state hackers are allowed to moonlight for extra cash in their spare time. The online disinformation tactics pioneered by the Russian state have become a vast and lucrative market for cyber-criminals.

Time to Talk

Threat intelligence has to continue to be focused on cyber-risks, but it must also consider the wider geopolitical landscape more as nation-state attackers have a plethora of motivations that will result in private and public organizations being targeted by them (think COVID-19 vaccines and fake news as just two examples). As governments worldwide consider cyber to be another space to control and use for a variety of capabilities, public and private organizations should consider this perspective more as they define their intelligence requirements moving forward.

Jason Steer Principal Security Strategist, Recorded Future

ShareTweetShare

Get real time update about this post categories directly on your device, subscribe now.

Unsubscribe

Search

No Result
View All Result

Recent News

Lenovo’s 16-inch ThinkPad claims desktop-like performance with 55 W Intel CPU

Lenovo’s 16-inch ThinkPad claims desktop-like performance with 55 W Intel CPU

May 18, 2022
Testing shows AMD’s FSR 2.0 can even help lowly Intel integrated GPUs

Testing shows AMD’s FSR 2.0 can even help lowly Intel integrated GPUs

May 18, 2022
Tesla announces the date for its second AI day

Tesla announces the date for its second AI day

May 18, 2022

About What We Do

itechnewsonline.com

We bring you the best Premium Tech News.

Recent News With Image

Lenovo’s 16-inch ThinkPad claims desktop-like performance with 55 W Intel CPU

Lenovo’s 16-inch ThinkPad claims desktop-like performance with 55 W Intel CPU

May 18, 2022
Testing shows AMD’s FSR 2.0 can even help lowly Intel integrated GPUs

Testing shows AMD’s FSR 2.0 can even help lowly Intel integrated GPUs

May 18, 2022

Recent News

  • Lenovo’s 16-inch ThinkPad claims desktop-like performance with 55 W Intel CPU May 18, 2022
  • Testing shows AMD’s FSR 2.0 can even help lowly Intel integrated GPUs May 18, 2022
  • Tesla announces the date for its second AI day May 18, 2022
  • AMD and Qualcomm to Optimize FastConnect Connectivity for AMD Ryzen Processors May 18, 2022
  • Home
  • InfoSec
  • Opinion
  • Africa Tech
  • Data Storage

© 2021 iTechNewsOnline.Com - Powered by BackUpDataSystems

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Tech
  • Africa Tech
  • InfoSEC
  • Data Science
  • Data Storage
  • Business
  • Opinion

© 2021 iTechNewsOnline.Com - Powered by BackUpDataSystems

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
Go to mobile version