Russian cyberattacks on NATO spiked in 2022

Russian cyberattacks in Nato countries quadrupled last year compared to 2020 and more than tripled in Ukraine over the same period, Google said on Thursday.

The spike in attacks — which coincided with Moscow´s invasion of pro-Western Ukraine on February 24, 2022 — was a sign of how cyber warfare would become increasingly prevalent in future conflicts, the US tech giant said in a new report.

“In 2022, Russia increased targeting of users in Ukraine by 250 percent compared to 2020,” it found. “Targeting of users in Nato countries increased over 300 percent in the same period.” The report said Russian government-backed attackers ramped up cyber operations beginning in 2021 during the run-up to the invasion. AFP