The United States and Europe are concerned that sanctions against Russia’s Kaspersky Lab will increase the risk of Russian cyberattacks against Western countries, according to the the Wall Street Journal.
As a result, discussions about possible sanctions against Kaspersky Lab at the US Department of the Treasury have been pushed back.
Previously, the Federal Communications Commission of the United States has added Kaspersky Lab products to its list of devices and services that pose a national security risk.
According to Facebook’s most recent report, the company has disrupted several covert influence operations aimed at Ukrainians and has taken steps to combat Russian propaganda about the war.
Russia and Belarus, according to the report, engaged in cyber espionage and covert influence operations online. Threat actors were interested in Ukraine’s telecom industry, defence sector, tech platforms, journalists, and activists. The company stopped a phishing campaign called Ghostwriter, which attempted to hack into Ukrainian military personnel’s Facebook accounts.
One of the measures implemented by Meta is the corporate fact-checker, an operations centre with Russian and Ukrainian speakers that monitors war-related topics on the platform. Furthermore, Meta began limiting access to Russian state-controlled media outlets and prevented them from running adverts on its networks.
Facebook has also taken down a Russian-based network that attempted to falsely report people in Ukraine and Russia for different various rule violations, including hate speech, to have their accounts and postings deleted from the platform.
Russia has decided to ban the purchase of foreign software for critical infrastructure without prior approval, effective immediately, while public agencies and other customers are expected to discontinue use of foreign software by 1 January 2025.
According to TASS, critical infrastructure includes information systems and telecommunication networks that are essential for the operation of critical sectors such as healthcare, manufacturing, communications, transportation, energy, the financial sector, and municipal facilities.
This move is seen as the Russian government’s latest effort to promote Russia’s technological independence.
Malwarebytes Labs has detected a new phishing campaign that is likely targeting Russians who are opposed to the war in Ukraine. The campaign targets citizens and public servants with emails warning them about illegal software tools and internet platforms that are forbidden in the country.
Malwarebytes Labs explains that emails pretend to be from a Russian state entity, in order to lure victims to open a malicious attachment or link to find out more, only to be infected with Cobalt Strike.
Roskomnadzor will undertake coercive measures against Google over failure to comply with Russian laws
Russia’s telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor announced that it will take ‘informative and economic coercive measures’ against Google.
Roskomnadzor will label Google as a ‘violator of Russian law’ and prohibit it from advertising. These measures would stay in place until the company complies with the Russian regulations, Roskomnadzor stated.
The watchdog called Google’s YouTube ‘one of the key platforms participating in the information war against Russia’ and accused it of ‘spreading fakes about the course of the special military operation’ in Ukraine.
The measures will apply to Google Search, the Google Play app store, YouTube, YouTube Music, Google Chat, and Gmail.
Russia’s telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor has issued a warning to Google, threatening to fine the tech giant over content distributed on YouTube, claiming that YouTube promotes the spread of fake content that contains unreliable information about the course of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
Roskomnadzor also stated that YouTube promotes ‘extremist’ content ‘with calls to carry out violent actions against Russian servicemen.’
Source: The Everge
Google denied claims that it blocked websites of different Russian government websites from its search results. However, the company has confirmed that Google search access to these websites has now been blocked, despite Google taking no action in relation to these web pages. The situation is currently being investigated by the company.
The response follows claims by Russian telecom watchdog Roskomnadzor that Google had removed websites linked to Russia’s defence and interior ministries from search results in Russia.
Russia has approved “parallel imports,” authorising the import of products without the trademark owners’ permission, after top brands stopped or suspended sales in the country.
Russia’s Prime Minister, Mikhail Mishustin, clarified that “the purpose of embracing grey market goods is to satisfy Russian demand for brands that cannot be sold in the country without permission of the rights holder.” According to Mishustin, the Ministry of Industry and Trade will decide which goods can be imported into Russia in this manner. It is currently unknown whether the rules will apply to the software.
Source: Reuters
- In times of crisis, cryptocurrencies emerge as safe ways to store wealth along with gold or the Swiss Franc. For instance, the volume sold of bitcoins jumped tenfolds in Russia since the start of the war.
- The effectiveness of cryptocurrencies in bypassing sanctions is less than it may be thought. Namely, cryptocurrencies lose their anonymity when they must be converted into FIAT currency (euro, USD or CHF). Crypto exchanges have to implement ‘know your customer’ (KYC) principle, the basis for anti-money-laundering regulations. The majority of crypto exchanges are located in the USA and must adhere to US sanctions laws.
- The fastest and most efficient way to raise funds is through cryptocurrencies. The Ukrainian government raised over US$100 million using crypto tokens.
Next steps: Digital Watch provides more information and analysis about the Ukraine war and cryptocurrencies.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warned of severe consequences for cyber aggression against Russia.
They warned of an increase in cyberattacks against Russian government institutions, mass media and critical infrastructure. These actions will be punished.
‘The sources of the attacks will be detected, the attackers will inevitably bear responsibility for their deeds in accordance with the requirements of the law,’ it was said in a statement by the Foreign Ministry.
The ministry further accused the USA and other NATO countries of training Ukrainian IT forces to conduct cyberattacks, and claimed that anonymous hackers are ‘acting on orders from the Western curators of the Kyiv regime’, highlighting that the operation of the ‘army of cyber-mercenaries’ are often on the verge of ‘all-out terrorism’.
Source: Interfax
