Types of Nation-State Cyberattacks
A nation-state cyberattack, carried out by a state-sponsored actor against another government or some other individual or organization, can have various goals, including:
- Espionage: Espionage is a common goal of nation-state cyberattacks. Nation-state actors might look to steal military intelligence, intellectual property, and other types of sensitive information held by government organizations, contractors, and other businesses. Also, nation-states commonly use mobile malware to spy on activists, journalists, and other persons of interest.
- Disruption/Destruction: Nation-state attacks, such as those employed by Russia against Ukraine, are designed to cause disruption and negatively affect the Ukrainian war effort. Often, these attacks target critical infrastructure — such as the power grid or transportation infrastructure — and use ransomware, wipers, and other malware.
- Political Messaging: Some nation-state attacks — and hacktivist attacks — are designed solely to make a political statement. For example, an attacker might deface a webpage to send a message.
The Growing Trend
In the past, nation-state cyberattacks were relatively infrequent, especially ones that could be clearly attributed to a nation-state actor. Some major cyberattacks — such as the Stuxnet worm that damaged the Iranian nuclear program — were believed to be carried out by nation-state actors but were never openly acknowledged.
In recent years, cyberattacks by nation-state actors have become more common and visible. A classic example of this is Russia’s use of cyberattacks as part of its war with Ukraine. On the eve of the attack, Russia deployed destructive malware to knock out critical infrastructure and disrupt operations. Cyberattacks against the Ukrainian government and other businesses and organizations have continued throughout the conflict.
Tied into the rise of nation-state cyberattacks is a growth in state-sponsored or state-approved hacktivism. Individual hacking groups are increasingly launching politically-motivated cyberattacks. This has become common in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and governments and companies in dozens of other countries have experienced hacktivist attacks against government agencies and other organizations in the last few years.
Nation-State Level Attacks Against Private Organizations
In addition to the growth of attacks by nation-state actors, their tools and techniques have begun seeping into the private sector. With this advanced malware available on private marketplaces, more cybercrime groups can perform attacks at this level.
As a result, it’s much more common for companies and organizations to face nation-state level attacks. Whether performed by nation-state actors with political motivations or cybercriminals using their tools, these attacks are sophisticated and have potentially devastating impacts on their targets.
How Can Businesses Prevent Nation-State Cyberattacks?
Nation-state cyber threat actors are typically sophisticated and well-resourced threats. As a result, it is difficult to be completely protected against them since they have the time and resources to exhaustively search for a hole in an organization’s defenses.
These attacks commonly target private sector organizations of various sizes. Attacking an organization can be used to steal valuable data (customer information, intellectual property, etc.), hold data or systems for ransom, or target high-profile executives within an organization.
That said, there are several things that an organization or individual can do to make themselves a harder target and reduce the risk of an attack. Some best practices include:
- Endpoint Security: Nation-state attacks commonly involve deploying malware on compromised devices. Use a reputable endpoint security solution on all devices — including mobile devices — to protect against ransomware, spyware, and other threats.
- Email Security: Phishing is a common attack vector for nation-state actors as well as other cybercriminals. Email security solutions can help to identify and block phishing emails before they reach an employee’s inbox.
- Mobile Security: As mobile devices become a favored target, SMS phishing and mobile malware are on the rise. Mobile security is essential to identifying and blocking these attempts at infecting mobile devices.
- Account Security: Compromised user accounts are another common attack vector. Use multi-factor authentication (MFA) and user behavioral monitoring to make these attacks harder to carry out and easier to detect. Mobile security can also help to detect the attempted theft of one-time passwords (OTPs) delivered via SMS.
- Patch Management: Nation-state actors may exploit unpatched vulnerabilities to gain access to corporate systems. Promptly applying patches and updates can help to close security gaps before they can be taken advantage of by an attacker.
- Employee Education: Nation-state actors use phishing, social engineering, and other tactics to steal information and plant malware. Employee education is essential to ensuring that employees are able to respond appropriately to these attacks.
Nation-State Cyberattack Prevention with Harmony Mobile
Nation-state actors have various targets and use a wide range of methods to carry out their attacks. As phishing and social engineering are commonly use to initiate an attack, mobile devices are a favorite vector. More information about these attacks is available in Check Point’s 2024 Cyber Security Report.
One of the most significant threats is the use of mobile spyware to collect information about the person and the organization. In recent years, several governments have purchased the Pegasus spyware or other zero-click malware designed for this purpose.
Check Point can help to protect against and triage these types of attacks. Check Point Harmony Mobile offers multi-layer protection capable of identifying and blocking infections by this sophisticated malware.
Some key capabilities include:
- Identify OS versions vulnerable to Pegasus exploits.
- Alert if a device is jailbroken, which spyware commonly does to gain access to sensitive data.
- Block attempted communications between spyware and command and control (C2) servers.
- Alert on attempted sideloading of apps from unofficial appstores and block sideloading on Samsung Apps using Samsung Knox Agent.
- Block malicious PDFs and GIFs used in recent Pegasus attacks with file protection.
Even if your mobile is protected now or has been checked and found to be clean from spyware, you might have been exposed in the past, and data might have been stolen. If you have concerns about past attacks against your mobile device, Check Point can check it for you for free.
These sophisticated malware are well-known for their volatility and their ability to get in and out without being noticed. This means that your mobile device, or any of your employees’ devices, might have been compromised without you knowing, and sensitive information that you’ve considered to be safely stowed away has leaked.
For this reason, Check Point experts developed a tool that can detect and recognize the past presence of this nation-stare spyware on mobile devices. Our Mobile specialists would be happy to assist you, run a spyware check on your mobile devices, and provide a full report of the findings free of charge. Sign up for a free mobile spyware check today.
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