The White House’s top cybersecurity officials on Friday said the Russian government is responsible for widespread cyberattacks in Ukraine.
“We believe that the Russian government is responsible for the cyberattacks on Ukrainian banks this week,” said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging tech. “We have technical information that links the Russian main intelligence directorate, or GRU, [which] was seen transmitting high volumes of communications to Ukraine, based on IP addresses and domains.“
Mrs. Neuberger said the U.S. has shared its conclusions with its Western allies.
Several key Ukrainian websites, including those belonging to the country’s two largest banks and its defense ministry, were temporarily knocked offline this week after a cyberattack. The sites were shut down due to a distributed denial of service, or DDOS attack. Such attacks flood websites with traffic in an effort to disrupt them and knock them offline.
Along with the DDOS attack, Ukraine’s Cyber Police said citizens received spam text messages that ATMs in the country were shut down. It’s not clear how many people received the texts.
Mrs. Neuberger said Russia could be laying the groundwork for more disruptive cyberattacks on Ukraine ahead of a potential Russian invasion.
She also said Russian hackers are both trying to collect intelligence and lay the groundwork for an invasion. The U.S. is working with Ukraine to prevent future cyberattacks, Mrs. Neuberger said.
After Mrs. Neuberger’s remarks, the United Kingdom joined in linking Russia to the Ukraine cyberattacks.
“This activity is yet another example of Russia’s aggressive acts against Ukraine,” the United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said in a statement.
Mrs. Neubeger emphasized that there are “currently no specific or credible cyber threats to the [U.S.] homeland.”
She also said there would be no spillover from the private sector resulting from the Ukraine cyberattacks.
“We are confident that we have worked closely with the private sector to press critical infrastructure owners and operators in the private sector to take the necessary steps to deploy cyber defenses,” she said.