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Cybereason Examines Russian Cyber Attacks

Jun 6, 2017

Cybereason today issued its findings on Russia and the tactics and methods Russia uses to conduct global cyber attacks. Titled ‘Policy versus Happenstance: Russia’s Dedicated Policy of Strategic Ambiguity’ this new report was developed by the Cybereason Intelligence Group, whose mission is is to provide context to the most sophisticated threat actors.

Earlier this year, Cybereason’s Intelligence Group issued a report focusing on China and a new breed of cyber privateer increasingly hired by nation states to accomplish intelligence operations. These groups operate with incredible sophistication while enjoying a cloak of semi-protected status for their malicious activities.

Cybereason Intelligence Group’s new report provides insight into the maturity of Russia’s approach to hacking and the government’s oversight of many different operations, while at the same time using privatized labor to do their ‘dirty work.’ Unlike in China where an unregulated hacking environment exists, in Russia the Kremlin is trying to create proper operating procedures on how to employ new underground elements.

Key Report Takeaways

*Over the last six years, Russia has demonstrated the capability and utility of using patriotic organizations in combined arms campaigns. Russia has shown the extent to which outsourcing can empower and obfuscate nation-state actions, e.g., using an open source malware kit to attack the Ukrainian power grid or patriotic hackers taking part in attacking a foreign government’s networks.

*What you see is not always reality. Russia has been extremely resourceful in the past few years in creating a hacking engine that appears to be a lot larger than it is. Regardless of size, Russia has the most technically advanced and bold cybercriminal community in the world and are more than capable of causing significant damage to whomever they attack from countries to corporations.

*On the other hand, Russia’s ability to control private hacking groups is beginning to erode. With the advent of crypto currencies and the globalization of hacking operations, Russia’s ability to coerce hackers diminishes. Nationalism is unlikely to be enough going forward to keep these advanced groups operating within ‘acceptable’ bounds for the Russian government. While these risks manifest in the approach the group sees others taking, thus far they have created a structure that produces more significant checks on the activity of these private actors.

Cybereason has also been the recipient of many industry awards and is regularly recognized by leading news organizations and outlets for outstanding product innovation.

Significant Awards 
JMP Securities Super 60 Company to Watch 
2017 EY Entrepreneur of the Year New England Finalist, Lior Div, CEO 
2017 CRN Security 100: ‘20 Coolest Endpoint Security Companies’ 
‘Best Places to Work 2016’, Boston Business Journal 
2017 Built in Boston 50 to Watch List (the only security company on the list) 
2017 Cyber Excellence Awards ‘Most Innovative Cybersecurity Company’ 
2017 Cyber Defense Magazine Award for ‘Cutting Edge Endpoint Security Solution’

About Cybereason 
Cybereason is the leader in endpoint protection, offering endpoint detection and response, next-generation antivirus, and managed monitoring services. Founded by elite intelligence professionals born and bred in offense-first hunting, Cybereason gives enterprises the upper hand over cyber adversaries. The Cybereason platform is powered by a custom-built in-memory graph, the only truly automated hunting engine anywhere. It detects behavioral patterns across every endpoint and surfaces malicious operations in an exceptionally user-friendly interface. Cybereason is privately held and headquartered in Boston with offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo.

Media Contact: 
Bill Keeler 
Director, Public Relations 
Cybereason 
bill.keeler@cybereason.com 
(929) 259-3261