According to cybersecurity news site The Record (they’re pretty good; you should bookmark them), newly-appointed U.S. Defense Secretary (and former FOX News host, philanderer, and raging alcoholic with a track record that “falls short of military standards”) ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stand down from all planning against Russia last week.
This is the same Russia that brought us cybersecurity threats such as:
- APT28, better known as Fancy Bear, who were behind the 2016 Democratic National Committee attack during that year’s elections (when Trump won), the 2020 U.S. election attacks, and attacks against allied nations.
- APT29, better known as Cozy Bear, who are more intelligence-gathering focused and are blamed for the 2014 State Department attack, the 2020 Solar Winds supply chain attack, and 2021 attacks on COVID vaccine development.
Here’s what CISA — the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency — has to say about Russia. This is from their Russia Cyber Threat Overview and Advisories page, which was on their website at the time of writing, but it might not be for much longer:
Friends in the cybersecurity industry — prepare a lot of headaches in the near future.