How the War in Ukraine is Threatening Canadian Businesses

Cyber Security

Mar 1

Ottawa is warning businesses of increased threat of Russian cyberattacks.

Russia's ongoing campaign against Ukraine isn't just being fought in the streets; it's also being fought in Cyberspace. From the start of the conflict, Russia began using cyber warfare to destroy data, cause website and internet outages, and disseminate propaganda. New malware Russia created for the attack spread quickly to hundreds of thousands of computers. The Ukraine government noted these attacks were "on a completely different level."

As the conflict in Ukraine continues to intensify, countries around the world are imposing tough economic sanctions against Russia in an attempt to influence the Kremlin to reverse its course.

Experts believe that cyberattacks will increase against countries like Canada in retaliation for the sanctions. These retaliatory attacks will be primarily targeted at government, banking, critical infrastructure, and organizations extending aid to Ukraine.

They also believe that cybercrime, particularly Ransomware, will increase to make up for financial losses caused by the sanctions. Ransomware is typically paid in cryptocurrencies that do not rely on traditional international banking systems impacted by the sanctions.

This increase in cybercrime is particularly concerning given the number of Ransomware attacks in Canada is already growing rapidly. Ransomware attacks in Canada more than doubled (105% growth) from 2020 to 2021, and 54% of Ransomware attacks were successful. Researchers at Emsisoft estimated that Ransomware cost Canadian businesses $4.86 billion in 2020 alone. SMB organizations (under 250 employees) are the most targeted and have the highest compromise rate.

With the staggering growth of Ransomware further accelerated by economic sanctions against Russia, Canadian organizations need to double down on cybersecurity defense, real-time cyber-threat response, and threat-resistant disaster recovery systems.

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