News Insights: The US Sanctions Russians for Potentially Fatal Triton Malware
The US Sanctions Russians for Potentially âFatalâ Triton Malware
The message is meant to deter any similar attack against US infrastructure.
The US Sanctions Russians for Potentially âFatalâ Triton Malware
News Insights:
According to Suzanne Spaulding, Nozomi Networks Advisor and Former DHS Undersecretary:
“The sanctions are an important step in signaling how seriously we take any malicious cyber activity that poses a threat to human life or safety. And sanctions against a scientific research institute may impact the individuals who developed these tools more than sanctions against the Russian government might. Scientists thrive on their reputation. Accusing them of threatening peoples’ lives, and impacting their ability to collaborate internationally, may actually impose significant cost. More broadly, when combined with other recent USG activity calling out Russian cyber activity, including recent indictments and alerts, Russia should be on notice that they cannot act with impunity–or at least not without attribution. The timing may be intended to warn against hacking into election infrastructure, or it may be designed to look tough on Russia for the American electorate, or both.”
According to Mr. Andrea Carcano, Nozomi Networks Co-founder:
“When Nozomi Networks analyzed the Triton malware in 2018, our findings led us to believe that while Triton failed, the attacker(s) could have just as easily succeeded in injecting the final payload. This realization, combined with the knowledge that a growing number of nation-state adversaries and other hackers have critical infrastructure in their sights, calls for vigorous defense of our national critical infrastructure. No single entity can solve this global issue; rather, end users, third-party suppliers, integrators, standards bodies, industry groups and government agencies must work together to help the global manufacturing industry withstand cyberattacks and protect the world’s most critical operations and the people and communities we all serve. The perfect storm of increasing cyber threats, digital transformation and IT/OT convergence means organizations must move swiftly to shore up their defenses with solid cybersecurity programs that deliver deep visibility and effective security that spans OT and IoT networks and devices.”
Nozomi Networks is a leading supplier of OT and IoT security and visibility for critical infrastructure, securing the world’s largest organizations including 8 of the Top 20 Oil & Gas, 6 of the Top 10 Pharma, 4 of the Top 10 Mining, and 4 of the Top 10 Utilities.
Hugh Taylor
Hugh Taylor is a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). In addition to editing Journal of Cyber Policy, he writes about cybersecurity, compliance and enterprise technology for such clients as Microsoft, IBM, SAP, HPE, Oracle, Google and Advanced Micro Devices. Prior to launching his freelance writing career, he served in executive roles at Microsoft, IBM and several venture-backed technology startups.