On this particular documentary version of ThreatWise TV, we check out the individuals behind Talos’ efforts to guard Ukrainian crucial infrastructure, and focus on the private impression on the groups concerned. Comprises photos of conflict that some viewers might discover upsetting.
Simply over a 12 months in the past, the information started to emerge that Russia declared conflict on Ukraine. A full-scale land, air, and sea invasion started.
A number of months prior, through the build-up, the Cisco Talos group intently monitored the scenario. We thought primarily in regards to the security of our colleagues and companions primarily based within the area.
Not too removed from the backs of our minds have been the relentless and focused cyberattacks in opposition to Ukraine over the previous seven plus years, which had wreaked havoc on their infrastructure.
As extra tanks arrived on the border, the Talos group puzzled about an invisible conflict. A kind of conflict that doesn’t require anybody to step in a constructing however could possibly be leveraged to destabilize Ukraine’s crucial infrastructure.
From November 2021, we readied ourselves to assist our Ukrainian companions, wherever it was wanted.
The story of Talos’ relationship with Ukraine goes again a few years.
In 2015, Russian adversaries used damaging malware to trigger blackouts throughout Ukraine. That very same group was discovered to be accountable for many different destabilizing assaults, together with makes an attempt to disrupt elections in France, the NotPetya assault which prompted billions of {dollars} in injury world wide, and Olympic Destroyer, the place damaging malware was used to interrupt the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in South Korea.
After the Black Vitality assaults, Talos reached out to our gross sales group primarily based in Ukraine. We needed to see if we might develop ties with key cybersecurity companions, authorities businesses, and safety researchers who have been primarily based there. And discover out methods we might assist defend in opposition to cyber assaults from our widespread adversaries.
Our Ukrainian companions wanted to study to belief us. However belief us they did. The bonds that we’ve got created with these persons are inherently robust, and it’s one of many explanation why the invasion of Ukraine feels so deeply private to us.
About three months earlier than the Russian invasion, and witnessing the construct up, the group reached out and supplied help to our Ukrainian companions. Evacuation plans for Cisco employees primarily based within the nation started to take form.
As soon as the invasion began, Cisco prolonged a proposal to Ukrainian governmental organizations and demanding infrastructure. We might provide them with our safety software program and companies freed from cost, in addition to devoted menace hunters. There was no definitive finish date to this provide.
A whole bunch of individuals throughout Cisco additionally bought in contact with Talos to supply their help, from creating refugee packages, to contributing to open-source intelligence.
Our dedication to defending Ukrainian crucial infrastructure from cyberattacks continues. We hope that peace and luxury come shortly to our Ukrainian associates, companions, and allies.
It has been a very emotional and difficult journey for everybody in Talos and Cisco who’re a part of these efforts. It stays so.
I’m proud to assist inform their story.
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