UK issues joint advice on latest Russian cyber threat

The UK has joined international partners to share updated mitigation advice against Russian state-sponsored and criminal cyber threats.

Published jointly by the National Cyber Security Centre, alongside the National Crime Agency and agencies in the US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand, the advisory provides technical details on the threat to critical infrastructure from Russian state-sponsored and cyber criminals.

The advice complements recent NCSC advice on actions to take when the cyber threat is heightened, and aims to further improve the resilience of organisations in the event of heightened malicious cyber activity.

Several immediate actions for all organisations to take to protect their networks are set out in the advisory, which include: prioritising the patching of known exploited vulnerabilities; enforcing multi-factor authentication; monitoring remote desktop protocol; and providing end-user awareness and training.

Lindy Cameron, CEO of the NCSC, said: “In this period of heightened cyber threat, it has never been more important to plan and invest in longer-lasting security measures. It is vital that all organisations accelerate plans to raise their overall cyber resilience, particularly those defending our most critical assets. The NCSC continues to collaborate with our international and law enforcement partners to provide organisations with timely actionable advice to give them the best chance of preventing cyber attacks, wherever they come from.”