Russia, China key responsible for state-sponsored cyber threats: Report

Amid the growing state-sponsored cyberattacks, a new report has claimed that Russia and China are believed to be key responsible for such attacks. A survey report by cybersecurity firm Trellix and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSI) said that both countries are believed to be involved in activities that can cause data loss, service disruption, and industrial espionage. These attacks led to significant costs to the victim organisations.  

Overall, the report maintains that organisations are looking to the government for guidance on how they can protect themselves while being hindered by a lack of breach disclosures. 90% of respondents think the government should do more to support and protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks.

James Lewis, senior vice president and director, Strategic Technologies Program for CSIS, said, “Nation-states and their criminal proxies are some of the most dangerous cyber attackers because they are capable, best resourced and extremely persistent,” adding, “It’s not surprising that nation-states, particularly China and Russia, are behind many of the cyber-attacks organisations experience.”

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Meanwhile, the report found that while 86 per cent of respondents in this survey believe they have been targeted by a group acting on behalf of a nation-state, only 27 per cent are completely confident in their organisation’s ability to recognise such an attack in contrast to other cyberattacks. The same report found 92% of respondents were willing to share information about an attack, but not always the full details.

The report also highlighted that in a country like the US, programmes like the ‘Cyber Safety Review Board’, CISA’s Shield Up and the White House’s new Office of the National Cyber Director are examples of programs governments worldwide should continue to develop to help protect critical infrastructure.

“As geopolitical tensions rise, the likelihood of nation-state cyberattacks rises as well,” said Bryan Palma, CEO of Trellix. “Cybersecurity talent shortages, outdated IT infrastructure, and remote work are the greatest challenges in today’s operating environment. Organisations must improve their automation, remediation, and resiliency capabilities to defend against increasingly sophisticated attacks.”

The report is written by CSIS and is based on research conducted by Vanson Bourne, which surveyed 800 IT decisions makers in Australia, France, Germany, India, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States, from a variety of industries. It highlights the volume and severity of nation-state cyberattacks is a substantial problem for the international community and organizations are looking to governments to help solve it, as stated by Trellix.