Russia to Cyber-Attack Canada and its Allies for Imposing Sanctions 

In case you missed it, the Russia-Ukraine war has replaced the Israel-Palestine war in the current affairs as of late. On February 24th, Russia went all out on Ukraine and started a war that has horrified the world. Putin continues to state it is for the betterment of the country by “de-Nazifying and demilitarizing” it, but the masses disagree with his ideology as his forces massacre innocents. 

Amidst the bloodshed, President Volodymyr Zelensky is still fighting for his people and hoping to reach a ceasefire with Putin, who refuses to call off his forces. So far, there have been reports of thousands of casualties, and million have fled the country. The war rages on. 

Many people have called out Putin for his inhumane and blatant killing of innocents to the point sanctions have been imposed on the country. It has been sanctioned on a number of fronts. 

The US, UK, and EU have imposed a ban on exporting dual-use goods, items that are serving civilian and military purposes, such as vehicle parts. The UK imposed sanctions on Russia’s Wagner Group. All Russian flights have been banned from Canadian, US, EU, and UK airspace. 

Many multi-national companies have suspended their operations in Russia, namely Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and McDonald’s. As a result, the country has been further triggered.

According to a tweet by Tony Gonzales: 

Apparently, the Western governments believe that Russia has been sharpening its claws by preparing to cyberattack its critical infrastructure and damage it one way or another. 

The Five Eyes (FVEY) intelligence-sharing alliance includes Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, and the United States. The joint cybersecurity agencies stated that this war specifically can expose a number of organizations to cybercrime. 

“This activity may occur as a response to the unprecedented economic costs imposed on Russia as well as materiel support provided by the United States and U.S. allies and partners,”the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in a statement on its website.

According to various reports, since March CISA said there has been “evolving intelligence” that Russia is preparing to cyberattack and is quite possibly actively exploring its options. 

The released statement from Wednesday also says that various cybercrime groups have also pledged allegiance to support the Russian government. So, the ruthless country has even hired cyber mercenaries to disrupt the lives of people living in the Western countries as a means of revenge for the sanctions. 

“These Russian-aligned cybercrime groups have threatened to conduct cyber operations in retaliation for perceived cyber offensives against the Russian government or the Russian people,” the statement said.

CISA has also recommended organizations strengthen their cybersecurity and brace themselves for any sort of cyberattack. It proposed the use of multifactor authentication, updated software, enabling Remote Desktop Protocol, and other services. 

All in all, the Russia-Ukraine war is the biggest conflict after World War II. Putin’s orders have been looked down upon hugely and yet his army marches on in Ukraine, continuing to kill people left and right. Here’s to hoping and praying Ukraine finds its way out of this disaster.