Threat of Russian Cyber War Highlights Need for Increased Cybersecurity
Despite being bombarded by sanctions from the United States and the rest of NATO, Russia has pushed further into Ukraine in hopes of seizing the entire country. With war looking as if it will drag on for some time, the threat of Russian retaliation against the US and its NATO allies for supporting Ukraine has grown tremendously – particularly in the form of cyber warfare.
For now, Russia and the US do not appear likely to engage in physical combat, yet Russia seems to be weighing the risks of launching cyberattacks against the West to counter heavy sanctions.
According to a recent report from S&P Global Market Intelligence, highlighted by CNN, national security experts believe the evolution of cyberthreat activity could shape the nature of conflict in the future and acknowledge there is a real threat of Russian cyberattacks on US infrastructure in the wake of the Ukraine conflict.
With sanctions crippling the Russian economy, Putin may have no choice but to retaliate against the West. USA Today reported that US officials are highly concerned the war in Ukraine could impact American cyber networks, encouraging US organizations to beef up their security.
Some of these attacks have already begun. Just two weeks before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a group of hackers gained access to over 100 computers at nearly two dozen major US natural gas firms, a move that some have speculated is associated with Russia’s GRU military intelligence service, per Bloomberg.
The motive of the operation remains unknown, yet the timing of the hack coincides the broader changes in the energy industry that have been accelerated by Russia’s war. Gene Yoo, CEO of Resecurity, the company that discovered the hack, believes the attack was carried out by Russian state-sponsored hackers.
The war between Russia and Ukraine is the most recent catalyst that could drive increased cybersecurity spending. However, technology giants Samsung and Nvidia have also been the victims of cyberattacks that has the sector looking to up their cyber defense through the means of mergers and acquisitions in 2022.
Tech Companies Rethinking Cybersecurity After Samsung, Nvidia Hacks
Even outside of the fact Russia is weighing their options regarding cyber warfare on the US and the rest of NATO, cybersecurity should remain a key point of focus for US organizations as global digitization trends continue.
Cyberattacks unrelated to the war between Russia and Ukraine have recently made headlines, spurring additional spending on cyber defenses. Similarly, Sam Masucci, founder and CEO of ETFMG, noted his firm is absolutely seeing more interest in cybersecurity investments.
Samsung announced their internal databases were breached by a group of hackers called Lapsus$, which stole over 190 gigabytes of confidential Samsung source code, per CNBC. A Samsung spokesperson said immediately after discovering the incident, they moved to bolster their security practices.
TechCrunch reported on the matter, noting that any access to source code could help hackers find additional security vulnerabilities that could potentially open affected devices or systems. Further, the hack could lead Samsung and other smartphone providers to look deeper into their current cyber defenses and make additional enhancements.
The recent breach comes on the heels of an announcement last month from Nvidia which found that the same group infiltrated more than 71,000 employee email accounts. An initial report from The Telegraph noted that parts of Nvidia’s internal systems have been completely compromised.
It appears as if Google has taken notice of the increased threat of cyberattacks, recently acquiring cybersecurity firm Mandiant in a $5.4 billion dollar deal, according to Reuters. The deal could trigger a ripple effect in the industry as cloud computing rivals Microsoft and Amazon also ramp up their efforts to boost their defenses in the fast-growing business. Jeff Pollard, principal analyst at Forrester Research, was quoted by Reuters saying “This is just the beginning of what we’re going to see in terms of cybersecurity acquisitions for all the big cloud firms.” The market for security software is expected to more than double to $352.25 billion by 2026 from 2020, research from Mordor Intelligence shows.
Forrester Research is not alone in their assessment. A report from GlobalData predicts that cybersecurity will continue to be a key driver of mergers and acquisitions in 2022, and that the security software market is “ripe for deals.”
Cybersecurity stocks received a massive boost during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as businesses shifted their workplaces online amid global lockdowns. Since then, cybersecurity risks have only grown and there are still a large number of firms who will be working online in some format for the foreseeable future.
Now, with US officials warning American organizations to up their cyber defense systems as the threat of Russian cyber attacks grows, cybersecurity stocks have come back into the forefront. The recent move from Google also highlights the fact cloud computing giants are looking to bolster their cybersecurity operations, a trend that looks poised to accelerate in 2022. |
