The time for polite and diplomatic declarations has long passed since the start of the war in Ukraine. “Russia could be preparing an action against us and it has substantial computer resources, and it will happen,” Joe Biden warned Monday during a meeting in Washington with representatives of the business world.
“My government reiterates these warnings based on ever-changing intelligence data that the Russian state is considering different avenues of potential cyberattacks,” the president also wrote in a statement released by the White House.
In the crosshairs of hackers and cybercriminals: critical infrastructure, mostly operated and owned by the American private sector. “We have seen since the beginning of the conflict a drop in cyber activities against Western companies because the actors seem to be focusing on Ukraine”, analyzes Wendi Whitmore, director of Unit 42, a cybersecurity research unit at Palo Alto Networks. . “But the attacks should increase again at the end of March because the resources and the attackers will be reinforced and reorganized”, predicts this specialist who sits on the cybersecurity committee of the Ministry of the Interior (Homeland Security).
Hackers could respond discreetly to the salvoes of Western economic sanctions against companies and the Russian state. “Russian cyber actors are exploring attack options in the United States. Given their goals, liabilities, capabilities, and whatever else we don’t see happening, we advise all organizations to act now to reduce risk,” the networks insisted. social, Jen Easterly, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the United States.
“France and all the countries of the European Union have increased their level of alert. We remain extremely vigilant”, had already alerted the Secretary of State for Digital, Cédric O. The National Agency for the Security of Information Systems (Anssi) very recently advised French companies to implement the five preventive cyber measures .
The attackers could have taken advantage of the Solar Winds software hack or another unidentified security breach to break into computer systems and wait in the shadows of cyberspace to set off their digital incendiary bombs.