UK companies and organisations have been urged to boost their defences against potential Russian cyberattacks as Moscow builds up military forces on the Ukrainian border.
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Britain's National Cyber Security Centre has called on organisations to take action "in response to malicious cyber incidents in and around Ukraine", saying the recent attacks are "similar to a pattern of Russian behaviour seen in the past in previous situations".
The National Cyber Security Centre is part of the British intelligence agency GCHQ.
UK organisations should protect themselves from potential attacks by patching their computer systems and enabling multi-factor authentication, the National Cyber Security Centre said. They should also ensure that online defences are working as expected and are kept up to date with the latest threat and mitigation information.
The recommendations are mainly aimed at larger organizations.
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This month, dozens of Ukrainian government websites were targeted in a cyberattack that included text warning Ukrainians to “fear and expect the worst” and claiming their personal information had been compromised. Ukraine has alleged that Russia was likely behind the attack.
Cyber operations are a recurring aspect of the conflict in Ukraine, which began when Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
Source of information: edition.cnn.com
