Recent attacks on several water authorities, such as Aliquippa and St. Johns River, are putting a new spotlight on the need to protect critical infrastructure.
In war, to bring a nation to its knees, attacks against power and water inflict the most damage psychologically.
That's why we must take these attacks against critical infrastructure power and water facilities seriously, and view them as a harbinger of war.
While Russia and China are targeting critical infrastructure for IPB, Iran targets it for ideological purposes.
The attack on several water authorities, such as in Aliquippa, was directed against equipment manufactured by an Israeli firm.
From disruption of freedom of navigation exercises to dangerous intercepts of military aircraft in international airspace, China combines this with the targeting of critical infrastructure that supports United States military operations such as Guam.
The Washington Post recently reported on the continued campaigns by the Chinese People's Liberation Army to compromise critical power and water systems from Texas to Hawaii, including an oil and gas pipeline.
If an attack on a nuclear power plant wasn't in furtherance of IPB, it certainly wasn't for grins and giggles.
The FBI noted in its 2022 Internet Crime Complaint Center Report that 870 out of 2,385 reported ransomware attacks hit critical infrastructure, as ransomware has become a tool of IPB, especially for the Russian Federation.
While transnational criminal groups continue to target critical infrastructure, many times, it's done with the implicit approval of an adversarial state actor.
In October 2021, Microsoft reported that Russia was behind 58% of all state-sponsored attacks, North Korea 23%, and China 8%. In a not-so-shocking report from Chainalysis, Russian-linked ransomware groups received 74% of all payments.
As ransomware continues targeting and attacking critical infrastructure, it serves the criminals' financial and the nation-states' IPB goals.
December 23, 2023, marks the eighth anniversary of the first use of the BlackEnergy malware by Russia to attack the power grid of Ukraine.
It was also an attack on the most basic and essential of human needs: survival.
Many have prognosticated on why Russia picked December 23, 2015, to launch the devastating BlackEnergy attack.
The BlackEnergy attack was retribution, pure and simple.
The attack on Dnieper was more than an attack on infrastructure.
The events of this week prove we have the equivalent of the Wild West ahead of us when it comes to threats against critical infrastructure.
Attacks against critical infrastructure and IPB activities clearly signal that conflict looms on the horizon.
We need to prepare ourselves to defend against these attacks on critical infrastructure because bits and bytes are often as destructive as bombs and bullets in future wars.
This Cyber News was published on www.scmagazine.com. Publication date: Fri, 22 Dec 2023 01:14:05 +0000