In the first three days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, cyber attacks on the latter’s government and military sector increased by a whopping 196%.
Since then, attacks on Ukraine’s government and military sector decreased, dropping 50% in the last seven days.
There has also been a significant increase in the number of cyber attacks on government and military sectors globally across all regions, with an average increase of 21%, compared to before the beginning of the conflict, and 19% higher than in the first two weeks of the conflict.
This was revealed by Check Point Research (CPR), which gives an update on cyber attacks observed throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The researchers speculate that hackers have made a shift towards taking advantage of other governments which are focused on the conflict.
In Ukraine, the average weekly attacks per organisation last week stood at 1 466, 20% higher than before the beginning of the conflict and 13% higher than the first two weeks of the conflict. This is while the amount of active networks in the country has dropped significantly by 27% due to the emergency situation.
In Russia, the average weekly attacks per organisation last week stood at 1 274, and the changes are lower, with only a 1% increase from before the beginning of the conflict, and 4% higher than in the first two weeks of the conflict.
Business as usual
Initially, it would seem that bad actors were highly focussed on the conflict, and after two weeks they have a better idea of what they can and cannot do.
In other words, hackers have returned to "business as usual", says CPR.
However, the researchers say they have witnessed a renewed effort on attacking government and military targets, possibly for diplomatic reasons, and are also taking advantage of everyone’s interest in the situation to carry out phishing attacks.
Other regions
When it comes to attacks per region, CPR noted the following: Europe (+14%), North America (+17%), APAC (+11%), Latin America (+17%) and Africa (-2%).
Globally, the average weekly attacks per organisation last week stood at 1 266, 14% higher than before the beginning of the conflict and 15% higher than the first two weeks of the conflict.
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