Spain wants to protect its government from hackers. Or at least make it as difficult as possible. The government has asked officials and diplomats to change their passwords as soon as possible and, as far as possible, disconnect non-essential equipment. Size –details elDiario.eswho had access to some of the messages—adopted “in anticipation of a possible cyberattack” with the war in Ukraine in the background.

In one of the messages that have been sent to senior officials and diplomats, it is stated that changing passwords is mandatory and urgent to implement. “as soon as possible”. “If the voluntary renewal is not carried out, it will expire in the next few days,” he stressed.

Other administrations, such as the Xunta de Galicia, has also been addressed to its employees to warn them that there may be a cyberattack and/or digital identity theft. The warning will come directly from the National Center for Cryptology, an organization associated with CNI.

War on the field… and digital

The warning comes in a very special context: after the US and EU announced action against Russia for his offensive in Ukraine, a process in which digital field plays an important role. Long before Moscow’s tanks entered Ukraine, the country had actually experienced malware or DDoS attacks that were thought to have originated in Russia. Ransomware groups, such as: Carry on HI Upcoming projectsThey have shown their support for Moscow and warned that they would fight their enemy’s strategic points.

“If someone decides to carry out a cyber attack or any kind of war activity against Russia, we will use all our possible resources against the critical infrastructure of the enemy,” he said. show this week ContiRussia-based cybercriminal group known for using ransomware to extort US and European companies.

At the opposite pole, another group of hackers, Anonymous, has declared cyber war against Russia. The group was actually responsible for the attack that affected the website of the Russian Today news channel. To anticipate the role technology will likely continue to play and fight digital invasionEU has sent to cyber operations expert to Ukraine.

Despite the fact that Russian troops began the invasion a little more than three days ago, over the past few days moves have been made that demonstrate the strategic weight that the technology will have. The Kremlin and Meta have had clashes that led to the former partially restricting Facebook after accusing it of “censorship”; Google has taken action to prevent Russian media from making money on their websites, apps and YouTube videos; and Kiev have approached multinational companies such as Apple or SpaceX to ask for your support.

Correspondingly, Ukraine has called for blocking software updates from Russia and, perhaps the strongest move to date to pressure Moscow, the US, the European Union, Canada and the UK has decided to disconnect some Russian banks from SWIFT. .

Cover image | Israel Andrade (Unsplash)