Russia and Belarus blamed for cyber attacks

Large-scale cyber attacks against the Ukrainian
government on Jan. 14 were blamed ultimately on state actors, media reported on
Jan. 15-16. The Ukrainian government blamed Belarusian hackers tied to Belarus’
intelligence service who were using malware similar to that used by Russian
intelligence-connected hackers, Reuters reported on Jan. 15.

Forensic examinations of the attacked sites also
uncovered malware installed in many of the affected systems. Microsoft
published a blog post on Jan. 14 regarding the malware, but did not point to a
specific perpetrator.

On the CBS television political interview show Face
The Nation on Jan. 16, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated that
the government was examining the code found by Microsoft and had not yet named
a source for it, but that, “it would not surprise me one bit if it ends up
being attributed to Russia.”

Calls for a reaction from the U.S. to the attack,
which targeted, among others, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry website and left
messages telling readers that worse is yet to come, have been growing. Even
before the attack, members of Congress were stating that the Biden
administration needs to raise the stakes regarding cyber attacks. Rep. Jim
Langevin (D-R.I.), chair of the House Armed Services Committee’s cybersecurity
subcommittee, declared on Jan. 13, politico.com reported on Jan. 16.

James Hydzik: Several conclusions
from the cyber attack and this facet of the asymmetric warfare underway can be
drawn, but two worrisome developments are noteworthy. First, there’s the lag in
the Biden administration in terms of responding to the attacks. There is no
reaction or threat of retaliation to a cyber attack comparable to arming and
running an insurgency. This reaction is sorely needed.

Another conclusion comes from reports within Ukraine’s
IT community that government systems hit in a New Year’s Eve attack had not been
updated since the uncovering of vulnerabilities months before. Such complacency
will have increasingly high costs as the relatively unchecked cyber warfare
escalates.