U.S. President Joe Biden warned local organizations to strengthen their cybersecurity efforts as Russia is considering the possibility of carrying out cyber attacks as retaliation for the sanctions imposed on the country for its invasion of Ukraine.
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“Russia could conduct a malicious cyber influence against the United States, as a response to the unprecedented economic sanctions we imposed on Russia together with our allies and partners. It is part of Russia's game”, said Biden in his statement.
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“My administration repeats these warnings based on evolving information that the Russian government is exploring its options for possible cyber attacks.”
In light of this information, Biden asked the U.S. private sector to act immediately to strengthen its cyber defense.
“The majority of America's critical infrastructure belongs to and operates in the private sector, and the owners/entities of critical infrastructure must accelerate efforts to lock down their digital doors”, said Biden.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) of the Ministry of Internal Security has already reached out to critical infrastructure organizations with information and mitigation guidance to help protect their systems and networks.
As part of the warning, the US government issued a guidance bulletin for organizations to take certain cyber defense actions. Among those recommendations are that organizations enforce the use of multi-factor authentication, deploy modern security tools on computers and devices, communicate with cybersecurity professionals to ensure that systems are patched and protected against all known vulnerabilities, update passwords on networks so that previously stolen credentials are useless to malicious actors, back up data and ensure offline backups are available. Also, encrypt their data and educate employees about common forms of malicious activity.
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CISA and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also warned satellite communications network providers last week to step up their cybersecurity efforts. The satellite warning came shortly after the two agencies, along with European authorities, launched investigations into a cyberattack on ViaSat’s internet service for fixed broadband customers in Ukraine.
Information source: zdnet.com
