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Cyber Warfare Insights: Why Russia Failed Against Ukraine
Oct 12, 2024
Explore the critical factors that have allowed Ukraine to resist Russian cyber attacks during the ongoing conflict. We discuss successful strategies, the collaboration between public and private sectors, and essential lessons for future cyber defense. #CyberWarfare #Ukraine #Russia #CyberSecurity #DefenseStrategies #PublicPrivatePartnership #TechResilience #InformationSecurity #Geopolitics #DigitalDefense
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0:02
thank you Mr K that concludes my
0:03
questions thank you chairman thank you
0:05
Senator
0:07
rickets thank you Mr
0:09
chairman the use of cyber warfare both
0:12
in peace time and armed conflict has
0:14
become a reality over the last 20 years
0:16
Russia has developed its
0:18
capabilities trained its
0:21
hackers Advanced its capacity to
0:23
undertake a wide range of cyber
0:25
operations since uh Russia's illegal
0:27
invasion of Ukraine Russian hackers have
0:29
reached Ukrainian Telecom systems and
0:32
executed multiple cyber attacks on the
0:34
Ukrainian government despite these
0:36
efforts Ukraine has proven resilient
0:39
while the odds seem to favor Russia's
0:40
dominance in cyberspace they haven't
0:42
prevailed against the Ukraine against
0:45
Ukraine and has largely and Ukraine has
0:47
largely maintained its presence online
0:50
uh Banks remained operational lights
0:52
have remained on unlike the Cyber tax of
0:54
2015 and 2016 that caused blackouts
0:57
electricity and information you know
0:59
electricity information continue to flow
1:01
while Russia possesses the means and
1:03
capabilities uh and the intent to
1:05
Ukraine's cyber uh space and
1:09
critical infrastructure the reality has
1:11
been different their efforts have not
1:14
been successful so Mr Jaffer why hasn't
1:17
Russia succeeded why haven't they been
1:19
able to bring Ukraine to its knees from
1:21
a cyber attacks and turn off the power
1:23
and so forth what do you attribute
1:25
Ukraine success to I think a few things
1:28
uh Senator rickets uh one I think that
1:30
we did do a lot of work ahead of time uh
1:32
working with Ukraine to get it stronger
1:34
get it more defensible a lot of the
1:36
capabilities ukrainians are deploying
1:37
today are American Technologies built by
1:40
American technology companies that have
1:41
been hardened against these type of
1:42
Russian attacks so that's one I think
1:45
answer to why Russia's been less
1:46
successful than we would hope I think
1:48
the second piece of it is frankly uh
1:50
that the Russians have not uh embedded
1:52
as deep as they might have uh in the
1:54
Ukrainian networks and delivered the
1:56
capabilities they could have delivered
1:57
early on in this conflict and so Ukraine
1:59
was able to get their stuff out more
2:01
rapidly than I think the Russians
2:02
expected it's true in the physical world
2:04
and it's been true in the cyber world as
2:05
well and I think there's a lesson for
2:07
that uh for the United States we rely so
2:08
much on our on our our technological
2:10
networks uh that we can identify ahead
2:12
of time if the individual if if the
2:14
private sector public sector are able to
2:15
partner effectively uh we too can defend
2:17
ourselves against these type of threats
2:19
in a more effective way than we are
2:20
today so do you think I'm interested by
2:23
what you said there about being embedded
2:25
is this something where Russia was not
2:27
looking at Ukraine as much as maybe
2:29
they're looking at the United States or
2:30
is there a lesson here for us with
2:32
regard to what else we need to be doing
2:34
with regard to reinking our strategies
2:36
our cyber strategies well I think that
2:39
we know how deep the Russians and the
2:40
Chinese are in our networks just uh over
2:42
the past uh year we've heard a lot about
2:44
how how how deeper the Chinese have
2:46
gotten in the fact that they're
2:46
deploying actual disruptive and
2:48
destructive capabilities in American
2:50
systems through this volt typhoon set of
2:52
attacks so we know that they're doing it
2:54
we know that they're getting in place
2:55
now whether the Russians deploy those
2:57
kind of capabilities which we know they
2:59
have uh is deep in the Ukrainian
3:00
networks are not is unclear they clearly
3:02
didn't use them we've seen the Russians
3:03
use destructive attacks in the past we
3:06
know they have the ability to wipe out
3:07
systems so I think the answer here is
3:09
twofold one when we identify these
3:11
capabilities our networks we've got to
3:12
get them out we've got to deter them
3:14
from putting them in in the first place
3:15
which we're not doing effectively
3:16
because we're not really pushing back
3:18
against Russian Chinese Irani and North
3:20
Korean attacks and then finally I think
3:22
what the ukrainians did effectively
3:23
which we still need to do more of in
3:25
this country is to partner between the
3:26
public and private sectors to ensure
3:28
that their systems are more defensive
3:30
we want to do that here in the in the
3:31
United States we're just not been not
3:33
very good at it we've tried for a decade
3:35
we need to get better at that and fast
3:38
so we talked about what we can learn
3:40
from this what do you think our
3:41
adversaries are learning from this based
3:43
upon Russia what they've done in Ukraine
3:45
and what they've not actually been able
3:46
to get done in Ukraine yeah I think what
3:48
as as we think about China and a
3:49
potential Taiwan scenario I think what
3:51
they're looking at is if you're going to
3:52
go in make sure you have the
3:54
capabilities you need both on the ground
3:55
and cyberwise and don't go in until you
3:57
can finish that conflict in a week we
3:59
thought it would be over in a week when
4:00
the Russians invaded Ukraine the
4:02
ukrainians were able to push back
4:03
aggressively and hold the line and have
4:05
held the line now for the better part of
4:06
two years so I think what what our
4:08
adversaries are learning is you got to
4:09
get in you got to get deep you have to
4:10
know your capabilities are there and
4:12
then effectuate them and that's why I
4:13
think the Russia I think that's why the
4:14
chines are waiting for on Taiwan they're
4:16
not waiting because they're scared of us
4:17
we're not there we can't get there in
4:19
time to stop them if we don't position
4:21
stuff forward we'll never win that fight
4:23
and they know it so they're not waiting
4:24
for us they're waiting because they're
4:25
not ready to go in fully and I think
4:27
that's the lesson they're learning from
4:28
from T from Ukraine but specifically on
4:30
the Cyber aspect of it you U you think
4:33
that what they're learning is they have
4:34
to be deeper into the networks like
4:36
Russia should have been deeper into
4:38
Ukraine's networks before they launch
4:40
this attack and you think that that's
4:41
what the PRC is learning about Taiwan
4:43
that maybe they don't feel like they're
4:45
deep enough into taiwan's networks
4:46
before they could be successful in
4:48
executing some of these cyber attacks I
4:50
think that's exactly it Taiwan and our
4:52
networks because they want to be able to
4:53
push back against us so that if if in
4:55
fact we were to intervene on behalf of
4:57
Taiwan they could us as well
4:59
they know that's their strategic
5:01
advantage that's they're looking to do
5:02
and that's why volt typhoon and the
5:04
change in Chinese behavior that we've
5:05
seen in the last six months is so
5:07
critical to focus on great so uh okay
5:10
I've got I'm down to two seconds too so
5:12
I'm GNA turn it back over to the
5:12
chairman but thank you very much Mr
5:14
Jamal thank you uh Senator rickets um so
5:18
in my initial question I was focused on
5:20
how we try to break through
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