Security News
As big tech companies from the West swiftly and happily comply with new rules that prohibit interactions with Russia, Chinese companies will soon feel pressure to do likewise - and counter-pressure to resist such calls. In early February, Russia and China re-affirmed their relationship as having "No limits" and essentially declared they are best friends forever.
Microsoft is decrying what it calls the "Tragic, unlawful and unjustified invasion of Ukraine" by Russia, and vowed to continue protecting the country from cyberattacks and state-sponsored disinformation campaigns. The software giant added it will support humanitarian efforts as Ukrainians try to fend off an invading Russian army and as hundreds of thousands flee Ukraine into such neighbors as Poland, Romania, and Moldova.
The Russia-Ukraine cyber warzone has split the Conti ransomware gang into warring factions, leading to a Ukrainian member spilling 60,000 of the group's internal chat messages online. On Twitter a message from a Conti member saying that "This is a friendly heads-up that the Conti gang has just lost all their sht."
The worst security looks much the same as the best. By way of justifying the invasion, he made a speech saying that Ukraine is not a country, that the West is an evil empire, and that Russia's security concerns are paramount.
An angry member of the Conti ransomware operation has leaked over 60,000 private messages after the gang sided with Russia over the invasion of Ukraine. AdvIntel CEO Vitali Kremez, who has been tracking the Conti/TrickBot operation over the last couple of years, also confirmed to BleepingComputer that the leaked messages are valid and were taken from a log server for the Jabber communication system used by the ransomware gang.
Hacker crews are picking sides as the Russian invasion into Ukraine continues, issuing bans and threats for supporters of the opposite side. Earlier today, the Conti ransomware group stated their "Full support of Russian government" and threatened with cyberattacks against anyone launching attacks against Russia.
What sort of attacks should U.S. businesses expect? Kanry said we don't need to look back very far to see an example of the potential havoc state-sponsored cyberattacks can inflict: The Colonial Pipeline attack.
The White House has denied reports that President Biden has been presented with an arsenal of ways to launch massive cyberattacks against Russia - attacks designed to disrupt the country's ability to sustain its military operations in Ukraine. Russia's military forces have been deployed in a ?full-scale attack against Ukraine.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has cleared the way for a new battlefront with the West in cyberspace, with experts warning of an escalation in cyberwarfare. "We expect to see that probably beyond just Ukraine, disinformation to target Western audiences, cyberespionage against key NATO members, as Russia tries to understand the next moves when it comes to sanctions or other steps that Western governments will play," Luke McNamara, principal analyst at cybersecurity consulting firm Mandiant, told The Register.
Cybersecurity firms ESET and Broadcom's Symantec said they discovered a new data wiper malware used in fresh attacks against hundreds of machines in Ukraine, as Russian forces formally launched a full-scale military operation against the country. The Slovak company dubbed the wiper "HermeticWiper", with one of the malware samples compiled on December 28, 2021, implying that preparations for the attacks may have been underway for nearly two months.