Reports suggest that the elite Russian state hackers behind last year’s massive SolarWinds cyberespionage campaign hardly eased up this year, managing plenty of infiltration of U.S. and allied government agencies and foreign policy think tanks with consummate craft and stealth, a leading cybersecurity firm reported Monday. On the anniversary of the public disclosure of the SolarWinds intrusions, Mandiant said the hackers associated with Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency continued to steal data “relevant to Russian interests” with great effect using novel, stealthy techniques that it detailed in a mostly technical report aimed at helping security professionals stay alert.
<p>Cyberwarfare is now simply a part of modern geopolitical life, so we cannot expect these attacks to ease up any time soon, especially from state-sponsored actors. These attacks will continue to escalate as techniques improve and more resources are allocated to cyberwarfare.</p>
<p>Because so much data is in digital formats these days, unlike earlier days of spycraft where humans on the ground played a key part in espionage, modern cyber espionage can be done from thousands of miles away. Also, significant data can be stolen in the blink of an eye, or active attacks, such as ransomware, launched at their leisure.</p>
<p>Since many of these nation-states leverage social engineering and email phishing as the primary means of initial infiltration, organisations of all sizes would benefit greatly from a strong security awareness training program with a focus on changing the employees\’ behaviour and a program where users report suspected phishing emails to security staff.</p>