{"id":614,"date":"2018-12-14T15:50:30","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T13:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fortgale.com\/news\/?p=614"},"modified":"2026-06-08T22:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T22:32:19","slug":"hybrid-cyber-warfare-russia-ukraine-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fortgale.com\/blog\/emerging-threats\/hybrid-cyber-warfare-russia-ukraine-italy\/","title":{"rendered":"Hybrid Cyber Warfare between Russia and Ukraine \u2014 Italy among the targets"},"content":{"rendered":"

In November, two foreign security firms identified a new malware exploiting an Adobe Flash Player zero-day<\/strong> (CVE-2018-15982<\/strong>) embedded within a Word document<\/strong>. Both organizations attributed the offensive operation to a malware attack against a Russian<\/strong> clinic conducted by the Ukrainian<\/strong> government.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Our telemetry permits us to extend<\/strong> the scope of offensive operations to Russian and Eastern European financial institutions<\/strong>. The hypothesis that the attack source is a state actor rather than an APT group developing proprietary tools is reinforced by the incongruence between malware sophistication levels and evident operational security failures during the offensive campaign.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the recent history of conventional and non-conventional warfare between Russia and Ukraine, the cyber dimension of operations conducted by both sides warrants consideration. Recent cyber intrusions demonstrate the current state of Hybrid Cyber Warfare<\/strong><\/em> between the parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although operations appear virtually confined<\/strong> to systems within both nations, our intelligence indicates the presence of an Italian financial institution among attack targets<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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National attribution of targeted institutions<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This significant finding underscores the necessity for all organizations\u2014whether strategically critical to national infrastructure or not\u2014to upgrade defensive capabilities against this class of attacks<\/strong> and adversarial intrusions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The importance of countering targeted, persistent, and sophisticated attacks<\/strong> is evident.<\/p>\n

Why Hybrid Cyber Warfare?<\/h1>\n

Hybrid Cyber Warfare<\/strong> denotes a military strategy combining irregular<\/strong>, conventional<\/strong>, and cyber<\/strong> warfare. NATO<\/strong> has addressed Hybrid Warfare<\/strong>, defining it as warfare that “simultaneously employ conventional and non-conventional means adaptively in pursuit of one’s objectives<\/em>“.<\/p>\n

Hybrid Warfare<\/strong> references:<\/p>\n