– Portuguese company VisionWare reports 961 pro-Russian cyberattacks against NATO countries in Western Europe within 6 months
Portugal Defence news - Portuguese company VisionWare has detected 961 pro-Russian cyberattacks against NATO countries in Western Europe within 6 months between October 2022 and March 2023.
The report on Russian cyberattacks, that is published by Portuguese company VisionWare, is titled “The Action of Pro-Russian Cyber Groups Against NATO Member States” and focuses on the cybercriminal activity carried out by the two hacker groups KillNet and NoName057(16).
According to Bruno Castro, CEO of VisionWare, there is no confirmation that the pro-Russian cyberattacks are state-sponsored and the possible involvement of the Kremlin is unclear.
A very well-coordinated offensive strategy for cyberattacks that are in line with the interests of the Russian government is underway against NATO countries in Western Europe. According to the report on ‘The Action of Pro-Russian Cyber Groups Against NATO Member States’, there is no material evidence that the groups are affiliated with the Kremlin, namely the Central Intelligence Department (GRU) or the Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation.
According to the VisionWare report, out of the 8,347 messages that were analysed on Telegram, a total of 6,805 cyberattacks came from Killnet and 1,542 came from NoName057.
An analysis of Russian cyberattacks against NATO countries in Western Europe that took place between October 2022 and March 2023, shows that the following sectors were targeted the most: Government, banking and Defence, with a total of 371 attacks. The report from VisionWare states that January 2023 was the month with the highest frequency of cyberattacks, with a total 333 attacks, that accounts for around 35% of the total number of cyberattacks.
While Portugal was the victim of two KillNet attacks, which hit the national health authority (DGS) portals and the Faculty of Pharmacy, 41% of Killnet attacks were in the United States. However, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania suffered 33.9% of the KillNet cyberattacks carried out by the pro-Russian groups.
Poland stands out among the countries most targeted the by NoName057(16) pro-Russian cyberattacks. During the period analyzed, cyberattacks by the two pro-Russia hacker groups NoName057(16) and KillNet, focused mainly on Poland, that was the target of 123 attacks.
The Russian war against Ukraine is extended into cyberwarfare attacks against NATO countries. For example, KillNet hackers have claimed responsibility for large-scale Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks against major US airports in October 2022, even though these cyberattacks did not affect flights but only disrupted or delayed airport services.
DDoS attacks by pro-Russian groups are causing severe reputational and financial damage, mainly due to the disruptive power caused by cyberattacks against NATO countries.
While pro-Kremlin attacks specifically target EU and NATO member states, Poland, the Czech Republic and the USA lead the list of the most affected countries. According to Portuguese company VisionWare, hackers from the NoName057(16) group attack more than ten institutions on a daily basis. In some cases, sensitive information is stolen, as in the case of the attack on the NATO website orchestrated by the Killnet group.
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