FBI Director Christopher Wray says the bureau is “concerned about the possibility” of Russian attacks on critical U.S. infrastructure targets.
Wray’s comments came Tuesday during an appearance before the Detroit Economic Club and echoed President Joe Biden’s warning a day earlier.
“We are, of course, concerned about the possibility, as the president said, of the Russians, whether it’s their intelligence services or cybercriminal groups working with them, targeting U.S. critical infrastructure, either in retaliation for our sanctions or for some other means,” Wray said in Detroit.
President Joe Biden on Monday urged U.S. companies to make sure their digital doors are locked tight because of “evolving intelligence” that Russia is considering launching cyberattacks against critical infrastructure targets as the war in Ukraine continues.
The federal government has been warning U.S. companies of the threats posed by Russian hackers well before the invasion of Ukraine last month.
And Wray doubled down on those warnings Tuesday, saying: “The reason we’re concerned about it is not just based on our longstanding understanding of how the Russians operate, but it’s actually the product of specific investigative work and surveillance work that we’ve been doing altogether.”
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has launched a “Shields Up” campaign aimed at helping companies strengthen their defenses and has urged companies to back up their data, turn on multifactor authentication and take other steps to improve cyber hygiene.
The United States and its allies have put a slew of sanctions in place aimed at crippling the Russian economy, and Biden recently announced the U.S. is sending more anti-aircraft, anti-armor weapons and drones to help Ukraine.
Russia is considered a hacking powerhouse but its offensive cyberattacks since it invaded Ukraine have been muted compared to what some feared. Russia has carried out significant cyberattacks against Ukraine in years past, including the devastating NotPetya attack in 2017 that spread far and wide and caused more than $10 billion in damage globally.
