Russian cyberattacks have grown since the start of the invasion of Ukraine, with attacks being aimed at the US, Baltic countries and the foreign ministries of NATO countries, according to a new report from Microsoft.

The company said it has detected Russian “network intrusion efforts” on 128 organisations in 42 countries. The US has been the main target, but Microsoft said the attacks have also prioritised Poland, where “much of the logistical delivery” of military and humanitarian aid is being coordinated.

There has also been an increase in cyber activity over the past two months targeting Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Turkey, along with an increase targeting the foreign ministries of NATO countries.

The report said 29pc of the recorded Russian cyberattacks have been successful. A quarter of these successful intrusions led to the exfiltration of data, though the report notes that this “likely understates” the degree of Russian success.

Almost half of the recorded cyberattacks were aimed at government networks, but the list of targets also includes think tanks, humanitarian organisations, IT companies, energy suppliers and other critical infrastructure.

This is not the first time critical infrastructure companies have been warned about potential cyberattacks. In March, US president Joe Biden warned companies operating in the country to bolster their cybersecurity efforts as “evolving intelligence” suggested that Russia was planning cyberattacks targeting critical infrastructure in the US.

“The cyber aspects of the current war extend far beyond Ukraine and reflect the unique nature of cyberspace,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said in the report. “The internet itself, unlike land, sea and the air, is a human creation that relies on a combination of public and private sector ownership, operation, and protection.

“This in turn requires a new form of collective defence,” Smith said.

Collective defensive weaknesses

Microsoft said that most of the victims of Russian cyberattacks were operating “on premises” instead of in the cloud. The report said examples such as the SolarWinds hack last year demonstrated that Russian agencies have “extremely sophisticated capabilities to implant code”.

It added that while the US has increased its defensive protections, the implementation of security advances remains uneven, particularly among European governments.

“As a result, significant collective defensive weaknesses remain,” the report said.

Microsoft said that Russia is increasing its efforts on influencing audiences and many Russian cyber influencing operations can go for months without proper detection, which can impact a wide range of “important institutions”.

In order to respond to the growing cyberattacks, Microsoft said that a collective response is needed to better detect, defend against, disrupt and deter foreign cyberthreats.

In a joint advisory last Match March, the FBI and CISA warned organisations to be on alert and bolster their multifactor authentication security after revealing details of how state-sponsored hackers in Russia were able to gain access to an unnamed NGO’s network.

Earlier that same month, US cybersecurity companies Cloudflare, CrowdStrike and Ping Identity joined hands to offer many of their products and services to US critical infrastructure organisations for free, in anticipation of potential cyberattacks emanating from Moscow.

Last week, the Irish Government joined Microsoft’s Government Security Program in a bid to protect the nation’s critical infrastructure against cyberattacks.

Microsoft president Brad Smith at Web Summit in 2019. Image: Harry Murphy/Web Summit via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

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