U.S. warns organizations to raise ‘cyber shields,’ citizens to leave Ukraine

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency today issued a rare “Shields Up” message recommending all U.S. organizations take immediate steps to enhance their ability to detect and protect against a cyber intrusion. The action follows a State Department advisory Friday urging Americans to immediately leave Ukraine due to increased threats of Russian military action. 

“While there are not currently any specific credible threats to the U.S. homeland, we are mindful of the potential for the Russian government to consider escalating its destabilizing actions in ways that may impact others outside of Ukraine,” which could result in impacts to public safety, the advisory notes. 

John Riggi, AHA national advisor for cybersecurity and risk, said, “As we cautioned in our Feb.1 special cyber advisory and prior, tensions are continuing to increase along the Russian-Ukrainian border. Based upon the current government warnings, we strongly urge all organizations to identify and recall any U.S. citizen staff assigned in Ukraine. We also recommend that all organizations assess any direct and third-party service providers, network connections, email and data exchanges from Russia and Ukraine, and consider blocking such connections. Geo-fencing all network traffic to/from Ukraine and Russia, although limited in effectiveness, may help reduce potential cyber risk.”