In response to the ongoing tensions in Europe, The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Agency (CISA) has implemented a program called Shields Up to provide businesses with guidance on hardening their cybersecurity posture: https://www.cisa.gov/

While this advice is beneficial to organizations with critical infrastructure, it is important for us as individuals to also be aware of massive misinformation campaigns being launched by Russia and other threat actors.

These campaigns are designed to trick people into donating money to what appears to be humanitarian efforts for the Ukrainian government and people; when, in actuality, these funds are being channeled into some rather nefarious endeavors.

If you are interested in making donations, we suggest doing so through an official channel such as the Red Cross: https://www.icrc.org/en/donate/ukraine

In addition to these massive misinformation campaigns, individuals also need to remain vigilant against content circulating around social media. Most notably, those including instructions on crafting homemade weapons and explosive devices or aiding in DDoS'ing Russian websites. Clicking on these types of links or saving PDF files to your computer that contain this kind of content is not only dangerous but could also have serious legal ramifications.

As citizens of the world, we are all extremely concerned with what's happening in Ukraine; however, this concern is what makes us all emotionally vulnerable to attacks from threat actors who would attempt to exploit this emotional vulnerability as they would a technical one.

Questions or concerns? Contact us to learn how to start ramping up your team's cybersecurity awareness and practices today.