Warning ‘world’s first CYBERWAR will erupt & US will be under attack’ if America wades into Russia-Ukraine conflict
THE chance of a Russian cyberattack against the US is “very high” if America is dragged into the Ukrainian crisis, potentially triggering the world’s first-large scale cyberwar, an expert says.
Department of Homeland Security officials warned that the US is on “heightened alert” for a potential cyberattack from Moscow.
Professor Scheherazade Rehman, director of the European Union Research Center (EURC), believes an attack on the US is "highly likely" should the crisis in Ukraine escalate.
She told The Sun: “A US response would probably set off what we believe will be the world’s first large-scale cyberwar.
“The Russians have been doing cyber-espionage and pre-positioning operations – meaning they’re setting up vulnerabilities in our infrastructure which means when they’re ready, they can release. It might not necessarily be tomorrow.”
And, Taras Kuzio, a Ukrainian political expert and a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, said: “Cyberwarfare is already a fact of life as a means for states to make aggressive attacks which are deniable.
“After an invasion of Ukraine, the US will no longer pretend that cyberattacks from Russia are not controlled by the authorities and will therefore retaliate with its own attacks.”
He warned that the cyber war would move to a “different level”.
Most read in The Sun
Rehman believes the Russians will be “relentless” in cyber warfare should such a conflict materialize and the private sector would be vulnerable.
Fears of a potential cyberattack were sparked after a DHS memo warned that Moscow would consider initiating an attack in response to potential US retaliation.
The message, which was obtained by , said: Russia has a “range of offensive cyber tools that it could employ against US networks”.
Officials warned that attacks could range from low-level services to targeting critical infrastructure.
Hackers, suspected to be linked to Russia, have carried out several attacks against the US in recent months.
The Colonial Pipeline – which normally transports 2.5million barrels of gas a day – was shut down on April 29 after it was hacked by the Russian criminal group DarkSide.
The attack crippled fuel delivery for several days in the southeastern United States.
Hackers apparently used a virtual private network account - used by employees to remotely access the companies network - to gain access.
'SLEW OF ATTACKS'
And, Colonial Pipeline paid the hackers $4.4 million to relinquish control of their servers.
The meatpacking firm JBS also fell victim to a cyberattack, affecting production at its pork plants in Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, and Colorado in May.
In 2020, Kremlin spies hacked Microsoft and infiltrated a US nuclear weapons stockpile as part of a nine-month "virtual invasion" by Moscow.
Hackers used various techniques, including the corruption of updates from network management app SolarWinds.
Russia has also allegedly executed several cyberattacks against Ukraine in recent years.
PLUNGED INTO DARKNESS
Around 200,000 people lost power after dozens of distribution substations in Kyiv and the Ivano-Frankivsk region were remotely targeted in December 2015.
A year later, the Ukrainian capital was plunged into darkness and in 2017, hackers unleashed the NotPetya virus which caused more than $10bn worth of damage globally.
Moscow denied such involvement, but earlier this month, hackers temporarily shut down Ukrainian government websites amid rising tensions.
The country’s Security Service said preliminary results of an investigation indicated the involvement of “hacker groups linked to Russia’s intelligence services” but no formal link was established.
Fears of a Russian invasion continue to mount as President Biden has reportedly warned Ukrainian premier Volodymyr Zelensky to “prepare for impact”.
The Democrat believes invasion is “virtually certain” with more than 100,000 Russian troops massed on the Ukrainian border.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Isabel Sawkins, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, believes any conflict in Eastern Europe would not be contained to the continent’s borders.
She feared: “The crisis has the potential to extend its tentacles into all corners of the globe.”
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The US Sun team?
Email us at [email protected] or call 212 416 4552.
Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at