Microsoft: Significant Increase in ‘State Cyber Attacks’

The share of cyber attacks targeting critical infrastructure, attributed to state actors, has risen from 20% to 40% of all attacks detected by Microsoft, according to the company’s global cybercrime report for the period from July 2021 to June this year.

This increase was partly due to Russia’s aim to damage Ukrainian infrastructure and aggressive espionage targeting of Ukrainian allies, including the U.S. Russia has also accelerated its efforts to compromise IT companies by disrupting their operations or obtaining intelligence from their clients, government agencies in NATO member countries, Microsoft states.

As much as 90% of the Russian attacks that the company observed over the past year targeted NATO member states, and 48% of IT companies located in NATO member countries. Alongside Russia, Iran, North Korea, and China have been singled out as states employing cyber attacks.

Iranians, the report states, have launched attacks aimed at Israel as well as ransomware and hack-and-leak operations against adversaries outside the region, including the U.S. and the EU. For example, Microsoft detected a ransomware attack aimed at deleting Israeli data, and in another case, an Iranian hacker executed an attack that triggered emergency sirens in Israel.

Regarding North Korea, the report indicates that it was behind a series of attacks aimed at stealing technology from aviation companies and research firms worldwide, as well as often unsuccessful breaches into cryptocurrency companies.

China has increased its cyber attacks aimed at espionage and information theft while attempting to exert greater regional influence in Southeast Asia and counter the growing interest from the U.S. China has also utilized its cyber capabilities in campaigns targeting nations across the Southern Hemisphere, including Namibia, Mauritius, and Trinidad and Tobago, the report states.

Microsoft also noted that Russia has engaged in various online operations to portray its invasion of Ukraine as justified, as well as to discredit Western COVID vaccines and promote the effectiveness of its own vaccines. Microsoft has also observed an increasing overlap between these operations and cyber attacks.