Remember NotPetya Lessons, GCHQ Division Advises

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has warned organisations in Britain to enhance their resilience to cyber incidents in light of the ongoing situation in Ukraine.

No new or specific threat has been identified, the Centre says, nor is there any indication UK businesses are being targeted specifically. But, it says, the current pattern appears similar to that seen in 2017, when a cyber attack the UK has attributed to the Russian state was launched against Ukrainian companies. The NotPetya malware wiped servers on affected networks, with losses running into billions worldwide.

The NCSC, part of the UK’s signals-intelligence agency, GCHQ, says organisations should be particularly mindful of basic cybersecurity processes and procedures at present. Advice already issued means most entities should be carrying out basic “cyber hygiene”, such as promptly applying vendor patches, enabling multi-factor authentication, checking that backup procedures and systems are working, and keeping up to date with threat information. These jobs are particularly important in the present context, the Centre says.

“The NCSC is committed to raising awareness of evolving cyber threats and presenting actionable steps to mitigate them,” said the Centre’s Director of Operations, Paul Chichester. “While we are unaware of any specific cyber threats to UK organisations in relation to events in Ukraine, we are monitoring the situation closely and it is vital that organisations follow the guidance to ensure they are resilient. Over several years, we have observed a pattern of malicious Russian behaviour in cyberspace. Last week’s incidents in Ukraine bear the hallmarks of similar Russian activity we have observed before.”