US and Allies Warn of Russian Hacker Attacks on Critical Infrastructure

The cybersecurity agencies of the US and eight other countries have published a joint warning about attacks by Russian state-sponsored hacking groups on critical infrastructure facilities.

According to the agencies, the attackers are using vulnerable and misconfigured routers as an entry point into targeted networks. Through compromised network equipment, the hackers gain access to organizations' broader infrastructure.

Joint Warning

The document was prepared by the intelligence services of nine countries and contains recommendations for defending against such attacks. The main emphasis is on the need to update router firmware in a timely manner, remediate configuration vulnerabilities, and stop using devices with default settings.

The authors of the warning point out that such attacks pose a threat to operators of critical facilities — energy, water supply, and other life-support systems — because the compromise of perimeter network equipment can be the first step toward deeper penetration into industrial and corporate networks.

Recommendations for Organizations

The agencies urged companies operating critical infrastructure to audit the routers and other network equipment they use, verify that their security updates are current, and eliminate the common configuration errors that attackers can exploit.

Joint warnings of this kind are issued regularly by international cyber agencies and are intended to inform infrastructure operators in advance about the tactics identified among attacking groups, before those tactics lead to real incidents.

Source: Bleeping Computer