Page 66 - Cyber Warnings

Nation State Cyber Attacks Emerge from the Shadows

Leo Taddeo, CISO at Cyxtera Technologies

Nation-state hackers are increasingly targeting government agencies, critical infrastructure
facilities, and businesses with powerful, sophisticated techniques that interrupt business
operations, leak confidential information resulting in massive data and revenue loss.

Today, public and private organizations unwittingly leave sensitive, monetizable data, such as
intellectual property (IP), unprotected, making cyberattacks a high stakes, low risk game for
nation-states.
These groups can apply seemingly limitless time, money, and hacker talent to achieve their
objectives, while cybersecurity professionals on the other side are challenged to deploy limited
resources most efficiently.

Many mature cybersecurity programs use a risk-based approach to maximize security value for
dollars spent. This requires an understanding of the adversaries targeting your networks and the
data they seek. And if the last year provides any lessons, the top takeaway is that almost all
executive communications have value for hackers.

For example, last year much of the news was dominated by reports of Russian agencies using
cyber attacks to extract information to influence the U.S. presidential election. In June, the
Washington Post reported that Russian government hackers penetrated the Democratic
National Committee’s network and gained access to the entire database of opposition research
on GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In December it was reported that Russian hackers tried to penetrate the computer networks of
the Republican National Committee, using the same techniques. And just this month, we
learned the Russians were again suspected of trying to influence the presidential election in
France by leaking hacked emails.

As state-sponsored cyber attacks grow in scale, frequency and sophistication, understanding
hacker motivations and capabilities is the first step towards a risk-based approach to mitigating
threats.

'State-backed' cyber attacks rise

The fact that nation-states are actively deploying cyber weapons against commercial interest in
the West has been well-known over the last decade in the law enforcement and intelligence
communities.

In the last few years, state-sponsored cyber attacks have come out from the shadows.
Companies of all sizes have found themselves face-to-face with military and intelligence
agencies, without much protection from the government.

66 Cyber Warnings E-Magazine – May 2017 Edition
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