War in Ukraine – Cyber Attacks also Pose a Threat

Hardly any other topic is currently as present as the war in Ukraine, which is claiming numerous civilian and military victims. But in today’s interconnected and digitized world, the threat is not only military attacks, but is also expanding into cyber space. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), cyber attacks on Ukraine and other countries are already on the rise [1]. Critical national infrastructures (CNI) are particularly at risk.

According to the federal government’s definition, this includes “organizations or facilities of vital importance to the state polity, the failure or impairment of which would result in sustained supply shortages, significant disruptions to public safety, or other dramatic consequences.” Thus, components of CNI in most countries include healthcare, energy, water, transportation, and information and communications technology sectors.

But it is not just CNI organizations that must be particularly well protected against cyber attacks and reduce their attack surface. For the entire IT infrastructure, there is a fundamental danger, a fundamental vulnerability that must be countered: defensively and sustainably. Eliminating vulnerabilities in IT infrastructures has a crucial impact here. Since most vulnerabilities have been known for a long time, they can be detected and subsequently removed with the help of vulnerability management. Ultimately, this means staying one step ahead of cyber criminals.

“We consistently focus on strengthening the defensive rather than the offensive,” says Elmar Geese, CIO/CMO of Greenbone. In doing so, Geese follows the view of internationally renowned experts such as Manuel Atug from AG KRITIS: “Taking the offensive is never expedient, especially not in a war. Because then you become a combatant in a war and risk a lot, which many people obviously don’t realize.” According to Atug, it is not possible to foresee what the consequences might be for attackers [2].

Therefore, our goal is to have a strong defense. We are happy to see that our open-source technology is also helping to fend off Russian cyber attacks in Ukraine.

[1] https://www.zeit.de/news/2022-03/02/experten-warnen-vor-cyberterrorismus-im-ukraine-konflikt

[2] https://background.tagesspiegel.de/cybersecurity/putin-wird-sich-nicht-wegcybern-lassen