Nervousness is rising in the government about possible cyberattacks against critical infrastructure. According to SPIEGEL information, the authorities expect attacks soon.
Germany could soon become the target of further cyber attacks in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to SPIEGEL, this is the result of a special situation report by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). According to the report, the BSI has information from a “trusted partner” that an attack against “high-value targets” could soon be imminent. The information probably reached the BSI from abroad via the German Cyber Defence Centre.
Since the beginning of the crisis and Germany’s support for Ukraine with arms deliveries and sanctions against Russia, cyber attacks against energy suppliers or military facilities, for example, are currently considered the greatest threat to Germany in security circles. In a paper, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution warns of an increased risk. The Russian secret services have the capability to sabotage not only critical infrastructure but also political operations “significantly and sustainably”.
Shortly after the war began, there was a wave of attacks in Germany by the “Ghostwriter” hacking campaign, which was presumably controlled by Russian services. “Due to renewed, current attacks by Ghostwriter in March 2022 against persons in Germany, special caution is required,” reads a security notice from the authority to representatives of the German economy. The hackers try to gain access to email accounts with so-called phishing emails. The Federal Office warns that the current decoy e-mails come from the harmless-sounding address t-online.de@comcast.net, among others.
According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, “Ghostwriter” has already “successfully captured data from elected representatives and other political targets” in the past. These could possibly be made public via so-called hack-and-leak operations and misused for disinformation campaigns. There is also the danger that attackers will hijack news portals or social media accounts of journalists in order to spread false news through these channels, the authority said. The German security authorities assume that “Ghostwriter” is controlled by Vladimir Putin’s military intelligence service GRU.
US authority also warns
A cyber attack on the KA-SAT satellite network in Central and Eastern Europe caused collateral damage in Germany at the end of February when remote control failed at numerous wind turbines. It is not yet known who is behind this attack.
The US IT Security Agency is also warning companies in the country to be prepared for increasing hacker attacks in light of the escalation in Eastern Europe. In response to this, three important IT security companies in the USA have apparently announced that they will protect particularly vulnerable companies in the critical infrastructure free of charge for four months. According to the Washington Post, Cloudflare, CrowdStrike and Ping Identity are offering to protect hospitals, energy producers and water utilities against counterattacks from Russia.
It‘s almost as if it‘s been clear for 20 years that digital infrastructure is vulnerable. That‘s why Germany never adopted it xD
Don’t use password as password
Cyberattacks on high value targets are happening every minute of every hour. It’s the nature of our tech world. What may change are the threat actors. Wonder who, and what they are doing to Ukraine right now?
Luckily, the Russians still have to figure out away to hack our fax machines.
Be right back buying some candles, batteries and food that doesn’t require cooling.
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Nervousness is rising in the government about possible cyberattacks against critical infrastructure. According to SPIEGEL information, the authorities expect attacks soon.
Germany could soon become the target of further cyber attacks in connection with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to SPIEGEL, this is the result of a special situation report by the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). According to the report, the BSI has information from a “trusted partner” that an attack against “high-value targets” could soon be imminent. The information probably reached the BSI from abroad via the German Cyber Defence Centre.
Since the beginning of the crisis and Germany’s support for Ukraine with arms deliveries and sanctions against Russia, cyber attacks against energy suppliers or military facilities, for example, are currently considered the greatest threat to Germany in security circles. In a paper, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution warns of an increased risk. The Russian secret services have the capability to sabotage not only critical infrastructure but also political operations “significantly and sustainably”.
Shortly after the war began, there was a wave of attacks in Germany by the “Ghostwriter” hacking campaign, which was presumably controlled by Russian services. “Due to renewed, current attacks by Ghostwriter in March 2022 against persons in Germany, special caution is required,” reads a security notice from the authority to representatives of the German economy. The hackers try to gain access to email accounts with so-called phishing emails. The Federal Office warns that the current decoy e-mails come from the harmless-sounding address t-online.de@comcast.net, among others.
According to the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, “Ghostwriter” has already “successfully captured data from elected representatives and other political targets” in the past. These could possibly be made public via so-called hack-and-leak operations and misused for disinformation campaigns. There is also the danger that attackers will hijack news portals or social media accounts of journalists in order to spread false news through these channels, the authority said. The German security authorities assume that “Ghostwriter” is controlled by Vladimir Putin’s military intelligence service GRU.
US authority also warns
A cyber attack on the KA-SAT satellite network in Central and Eastern Europe caused collateral damage in Germany at the end of February when remote control failed at numerous wind turbines. It is not yet known who is behind this attack.
The US IT Security Agency is also warning companies in the country to be prepared for increasing hacker attacks in light of the escalation in Eastern Europe. In response to this, three important IT security companies in the USA have apparently announced that they will protect particularly vulnerable companies in the critical infrastructure free of charge for four months. According to the Washington Post, Cloudflare, CrowdStrike and Ping Identity are offering to protect hospitals, energy producers and water utilities against counterattacks from Russia.
It‘s almost as if it‘s been clear for 20 years that digital infrastructure is vulnerable. That‘s why Germany never adopted it xD
Don’t use password as password
Cyberattacks on high value targets are happening every minute of every hour. It’s the nature of our tech world. What may change are the threat actors. Wonder who, and what they are doing to Ukraine right now?
Luckily, the Russians still have to figure out away to hack our fax machines.
Be right back buying some candles, batteries and food that doesn’t require cooling.