Key international and Ukrainian news in cybersecurity domain, September 2023
The U.S. Armed Forces are actively changing their cybersecurity policies, accelerating the implementation of zero-trust policies and new cybersecurity technologies. Thus, the U.S. Ministry of Defence published a new cybersecurity strategy which, as analysts estimate, can be characterised as a clear transition to cyber realism: stronger emphasis on offensive actions, preemptive defensive operations with the participation of the allies, etc.
Ukraine keeps enhancing its cybersecurity paying attention to cybersecurity at the regional level, cybersecurity of the State Border Guard Service [SBGS] security of critical infrastructure. The NCCC has hold regional command and staff exercises in Ivano-Frankivsk where a mechanism for interaction in responding to cyber attacks and communicating cyber incidents were elaborated. Two meetings of the National Cybersecurity Cluster were held to discuss public and private partnerships in cybersecurity, and key aspects of cybersecurity in the SBGS systems. The Government approved the National Plan for the Protection and Ensuring the Security and Resilience of Critical Infrastructure.
NATO and the EU have got a high-level dialogue under way to reinforce their partnership in cybersecurity. At the same time, the United States is stepping up its cooperation with the United Kingdom and in the Pacific region. This increased cooperation and awareness of the dangers of cybercrime at the international level has driven the International Criminal Court to announce its intention to prosecute war crimes in cyberspace.
russian aggression against Ukraine in cyberspace does not stop. CERT-UA experts have detected an attack with a decoy document allegedly from the National Defence University, which eventually leads to malware infection with Cobalt Strike Beacon. Attempts to attack Ukraine’s critical energy infrastructure were reported by the ART28 hacker group which is associated to russian special services. The State Service of Special Communications has prepared russia’s Cyber Tactics H1’2023 Analytical Report which examined cyber threats from russian hacker groups in 2022 and H1 2023, as well as changes in the behaviour of cyber intruders.
Some of the notable trends that experts highlighted in September included 5G network security, supply chain security, and post-quantum encryption. In particular, cybersecurity experts of Trend Micro company show how cyber intruders can use employees’ devices to penetrate an isolated part of the 5G network where production systems operate, or other network controls. NIST has formed a coalition of experts who are to deal with the implementation of post-quantum encryption in practice right now.
Read more about legislative changes, initiatives of national actors, trends, forecasts and analytical estimates, international and Ukrainian news in the cybersecurity domain in Ukraine here.