The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is warning federal agencies, companies and other critical organizations to be prepared for potential cyberattacks amid imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, C4ISRNET reported Monday.
CISA noted in its Shields Up warning that cyber has been used by Russia as a key element of its force projection in the past 10 years.
“The Russian government understands that disabling or destroying critical infrastructure—including power and communications—can augment pressure on a country’s government, military and population and accelerate their acceding to Russian objectives,” CISA wrote in the Shields Up notice.
CISA recommends several measures organizations should take to improve their cybersecurity posture and protect critical assets. These steps are reducing the likelihood of a damaging cyberattack; taking steps to detect a potential intrusion; ensuring that the organization is prepared to respond in the event of an intrusion; and maximizing the organizations’ resilience to a destructive cyber incident.
To reduce the chances of a damaging cyberattack, organizations should validate all remote access to networks using multifactor authentication and prioritize software updates to address known exploited vulnerabilities, among other actions.