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Cybersecurity guru predicts new wave of attacks against Russian gov’t agencies, media

According to Alexey Pavlov, small and medium enterprises will continue to be attractive targets for hackers

NOVOSIBIRSK, August 25. /TASS/. Previous cyberattacks against various Russian agencies were just a portion of the first wave of such attacks, with the second one expected to start shortly, Rostelecom-Solar expert Alexey Pavlov said on Thursday at the Technoprom Forum.

"I am almost confident we will see a second wave of cyberattacks soon. Everything we have seen before was the first wave. These were largely mass attacks. Now we have already started to see targeted attacks," the expert said. Attackers will focus on government authorities, mass media and critical infrastructural facilities, Pavlov said. Attacks through contractors will continue growing, and small and medium enterprises will continue to be attractive targets for hackers.

"Their [hackers] primary goal at present is not to make some quick encryption. Irrecoverable encryption (without even ransom demanding) increased by dozens of times after the special operation [in Ukraine] started. They continue demanding ransom in 50% of the cases but simply delete information in 50% of the [other ones]," Pavlov noted.

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Internet & Telecom Rostelecom

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