The President of the United States, Joe Biden, called on private companies and organizations in his country to be alert to possible cyber attacks by Russia. Britain also gave a similar warning.
Russia has always denied being linked to cyberattacks in western countries. But it is undeniable that they have great cyber power. Quoted from the BBC, here are 3 Russian cyber attacks that are feared by western countries:
BlackEnergy
Ukraine has always been referred to as Russia's testing ground for cyber attacks. In 2015, a Ukrainian power plant was attacked in an attack dubbed BlackEnergy, leaving 80,000 residents affected by blackouts.
A year later, an attack dubbed the Industroyer left a fifth of Kyiv's capital out of power in about an hour. At that time, the United States and the European Union said the mastermind of the attack was Russia.
NotPetya
NotPetya has been called one of the most destructive cyberattacks in history and is believed by some to have originated in Russia. This malware was hidden in accounting software in Ukraine, and spread all over the world.
He damaged the computer systems of thousands of companies with a total loss of about USD 10 billion. And it turns out, there are also companies based in Russia who were hit by the attack.
Colonial Pipeline
In May 2021, a state of emergency was declared in several US states after a hacker attack forced a vital oil pipeline to shut down. This hit the Colonial Pipeline company which is responsible for supplying the majority of oil on the US east coast.
They claimed to have to pay USD 4.4 million in ransom for the hacker who attacked, so that the system can be restored. There are allegations that this cyberattack was carried out by Russia, where they may have assembled a group of cybercriminals to launch a coordinated attack.