Cisco Stops All Russia Operations, HornetSecurity Offers Free Cloud Security to Ukraine Businesses
Check Point Research shows overall cyberattacks increasing since the start of the conflict.
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Cisco’s Chuck Robbins said his company is accelerating the work it’s been doing over the past few weeks to “do all that we can to help protect organizations in Ukraine from cyberattacks, safeguard the privacy of institutions in Ukraine and the region, and help the Ukrainian government secure its infrastructure.”
“The work being done by our Talos threat intelligence team to monitor the landscape, hunt malicious actors and deploy defenses, while openly sharing its findings is essential in contributing to the safety of our customers globally,” he said.
In addition to new security protections that are regularly updated and rolled out, Cisco’s Talos has put together a team of volunteers who have been hunting threats around the clock and watch over the networks of critical organizations in Ukraine, Robbins said.
“They are also helping manage secure endpoint configurations with teams of dedicated engineers, and serving as defenders from inside Ukrainian networks,” he said. “Our internet intelligence team at ThousandEyes has also been actively monitoring the internet activity of dozens of critical Ukrainian websites, enabling government agencies and banks in the region to deploy countermeasures and protect against attacks.”
Cisco is focused on the safety of its employees and their families in Ukraine, and “doing all that we can to support them, from relocation to financial assistance,” Robbins said.
“We have also established a Ukraine Humanitarian Assistance Fund enabling all of our employees to donate, and we are working with non-profit partners to leverage Cisco equipment and support those who have been able to flee and relocate,” he said. “Our deepest hope is that this war will end soon. In the meantime, we are committed to using all the resources we can to help our employees, the institutions and people of Ukraine, and our customers and partners during this challenging time, and we will do all within our power to support those who need it.”
Hornetsecurity, a security and backup solution provider for Microsoft 365, is offering one year of its managed cloud security solutions for free to Ukraine businesses.
The offering covers all of Hornetsecurity’s services, with the main focus on the company’s 365 Total Protection suite. Hornetsecurity operates in more than 30 countries through its international distribution network.
Daniel Blank is Hornetsecurity‘s COO.
“Our products secure email communication, provide business continuity, and prevent data loss, while also helping ensure compliance for companies of all sizes,” he said. “Our product portfolio covers all important areas of email security, including spam and virus filtering, protection against phishing and ransomware, legally compliant archiving and encryption, as well as email, endpoint and virtual machine backup, replication and recovery. These offerings are available both specifically for Microsoft 365, offering seamless integration, as well as for other mail servers. Our solutions will help companies and organizations in Ukraine to boost their defenses against all manner of cyber threats.”
Blank said it’s “encouraging to see how companies and people from all over the world can come together to help however they can, and Hornetsecurity is proud to stand among them.”
Wildix has had a significant relationship with Ukraine, including stationing its main R&D center in Odessa, the third-largest city in Ukraine, in 2007. The company says it’s monitoring the situation hour by hour to further ensure the safety of its employees.
Steve Osler is Wildix’s CEO.
“Unequivocally, Wildix stands with Ukraine and our Ukrainian colleagues,” he said. “Our No. 1 priority will always be to the safety and wellbeing of our team. And I’m relieved beyond words that our affected team members have largely been moved to safety”
As an international company with hundreds of worldwide partnering MSPs, Wildix has also seen support in these efforts from its network.
“Already I’ve received dozens of communications from business partners around the world extending their support for our Ukrainian team members,” Olser said. “I cannot thank those partners enough. It is inspiring to see the Wildix ecosystem come together on this issue. I want to tell the whole world — and our Ukrainian team members especially — that Wildix and every one of our business partners is united in our support of Ukraine’s safety and independence.”
Wildix has also set up a webpage dedicated to collecting funds, clothing and children’s toys to assist all affected Wildix employees and their families.
Cyberattacks on all industries, not just the government/military sector, in Ukraine and Russia have increased to the highest point since the beginning of the conflict and 2022.
That’s according to Check Point Research (CPR), which provided an update this week on cyberattacks throughout the Russia-Ukraine region. In the first three days of combat, cyberattacks on Ukraine’s government and military sector increased by 196%. Since then, attacks have decreased. CPR suspects hackers have made a shift towards taking advantage of other governments focused on the conflict.
There has been a significant increase of cyberattacks on government/military sectors globally across all regions, with an average increase of 21%, compared to before the beginning of the conflict, and 19% higher than the first two weeks of the conflict.
Globally, the average weekly attacks per organization 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.
In Ukraine, CPR documented a 20% increase in overall cyberattacks on all industries since the beginning of the conflict. In Russia, it documented a 1% increase in overall cyberattacks on all industries since the beginning of the conflict.
CPR also provided data on cyberattacks observed per region: Europe (+14%), North America (+17%), APAC (+11%), Latin America (+17%) and Africa (-2%)
Ekram Ahmed, CPR spokesperson, said government and military organizations are under threat in North America. The hackers are mostly launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
“But we’re seeing others, such as disruptive malware attacks (Wiper), email phishing and more,” he said. “[There’s] no evidence that these attacks are succeeding as our systems are designs to thwart attacks. We can expect hackers to double-down and step up their activity, as we see them trying to capitalize [on] the attention around the war from a variety of angles. It’s important to understand that the current war also has a cyber dimension to it, where people online are choosing sides, from the dark web to social media. We’ll continue to monitor all sides of the cyber activity around the ongoing war.”
Cyberattacks on all industries, not just the government/military sector, in Ukraine and Russia have increased to the highest point since the beginning of the conflict and 2022.
That’s according to Check Point Research (CPR), which provided an update this week on cyberattacks throughout the Russia-Ukraine region. In the first three days of combat, cyberattacks on Ukraine’s government and military sector increased by 196%. Since then, attacks have decreased. CPR suspects hackers have made a shift towards taking advantage of other governments focused on the conflict.
There has been a significant increase of cyberattacks on government/military sectors globally across all regions, with an average increase of 21%, compared to before the beginning of the conflict, and 19% higher than the first two weeks of the conflict.
Globally, the average weekly attacks per organization 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.
In Ukraine, CPR documented a 20% increase in overall cyberattacks on all industries since the beginning of the conflict. In Russia, it documented a 1% increase in overall cyberattacks on all industries since the beginning of the conflict.
CPR also provided data on cyberattacks observed per region: Europe (+14%), North America (+17%), APAC (+11%), Latin America (+17%) and Africa (-2%)
Ekram Ahmed, CPR spokesperson, said government and military organizations are under threat in North America. The hackers are mostly launching distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks.
“But we’re seeing others, such as disruptive malware attacks (Wiper), email phishing and more,” he said. “[There’s] no evidence that these attacks are succeeding as our systems are designs to thwart attacks. We can expect hackers to double-down and step up their activity, as we see them trying to capitalize [on] the attention around the war from a variety of angles. It’s important to understand that the current war also has a cyber dimension to it, where people online are choosing sides, from the dark web to social media. We’ll continue to monitor all sides of the cyber activity around the ongoing war.”
Cisco Systems has stopped all business operations, including sales and services, in Russia and Belarus in response to the ongoing Ukraine invasion.
Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins issued a letter stating his company’s plans for the foreseeable future as the invasion continues. The latest news includes Russia launching missile strikes near Ukraine’s western city, Lviv.
Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Dell, HPE, IBM Cloud, Oracle and VMware and other cloud companies already have either stopped selling to new, or servicing existing, customers in Russia.
Cisco Halting Russia Operations the ‘Right Decision’
Robbins said stopping all business operations in Russia and Belarus is the “right decision.” And Cisco is working with customers and partners in the extended region to ensure business continuity.
Cisco’s Chuck Robbins
“We will be in touch with our customers and partners in Russia and Belarus with additional details,” he said. “We recognize that many people, including all of our teams, are impacted by this war.”
Cisco teams are “working tirelessly” on customers and partners’ behalf, Robbins said. It will answer questions and provide updates as the crisis develops.
To help those in Ukraine, Cisco is enabling auto-renewals on any software or services for its Ukrainian customers at no charge. In addition, it’s offering one free year of Webex meetings. Moreover, it’s providing free calls to Ukraine.
Scroll through our slideshow above for more from Cisco and how others are responding to the Ukraine crisis.
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