As the war in Ukraine wages on and cyber-activity by states and criminal groups remains high, discussions around the cyber-resilience of critical infrastructure have intensified. Experts from various countries are gathering today in Warsaw, Poland to discuss how the public and private sectors are dealing with heightened cybersecurity risks in light of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. Ahead of this event, the ESET European Cybersecurity Day (EECD), Robert Lipovsky, the Principal Threat Intelligence Researcher at ESET talked about the security challenges facing critical infrastructure systems and how ESET is helping protect essential systems and services worldwide.
The stakes are much higher when critical infrastructure is attacked as an attack can compromise the work of hospitals, bring down a power grid, or impact the financial sector, or the security of transportation systems. In this context, governments and private companies managing critical infrastructure have greater responsibilities. When it comes to cybersecurity threats, the readiness of governments and private organizations is crucial. Governments worldwide have been improving their readiness to respond to cyber threats in the past couple of years. Collaborations between the private and public sector have been improving as well. Ukraine’s efforts in cybersecurity and defense have served as a demonstration of what is possible in the cybersecurity sector.
Cybersecurity is a continuous effort and requires ongoing investment from organizations. ESET understands the high stakes involved in protecting critical infrastructure. ESET is responsible for the cybersecurity of organizations worldwide. It has compiled a lot of threat intelligence and released it publicly or to relevant local CERTs where sensitive information is redacted. Smaller organizations that are part of the supply chain of large organizations are at greater risk.
ESET has detected an increasing number of supply-chain attacks. These attacks target smaller companies in the supply chain. When state-sponsored APT groups attack a smaller organization, they use similar attack schemes that they later implement on larger organizations in the supply chain. This makes detecting and preventing supply-chain attacks a complex task. Vulnerabilities in supply chain security could potentially enable cyber criminals to target critical infrastructure systems.
ESET recently released its first public APT Activity Report in November 2022 as part of its effort to raise public awareness of cybersecurity threats. ESET private APT reports contain detailed information on the attacks, which is compiled to provide actionable threat intelligence. ESET uses a two-step process to attribute an attack to a specific group − technical findings and geopolitical information. ESET collaborates with CERTs and government institutions to ensure that information about ongoing attacks flows seamlessly to all involved parties to ensure that cybersecurity threats are identified and addressed fast.
Collaboration is essential in the fight against cyber threats. ESET works closely with CERTs and other government institutions worldwide to ensure that no organization is left vulnerable to cyber-attacks. As the number of cyber threats increases, it is more important than ever to join hands with others in the fight against cybercriminals.