U.S. and Britain Help Ukraine Prepare for Potential Russian Cyberassault

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NEW: Could Putin launch a cyberattack on Ukraine ahead/instead of a real-world strike? US and UK are trying to support Ukraine's cyber defenses--though plugging the holes Kyiv's systems is an impossible task. New with
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U.S. and Britain Help Ukraine Prepare for Potential Russian Cyberassault
Russia has attacked Ukraine’s power grid in the past, and experts say Moscow might take similar steps as it masses troops along the border.

U.S. and Britain Help Ukraine Prepare for Potential Russian Cyberassault

Russia has attacked Ukraine’s power grid in the past, and experts say Moscow might take similar steps as it masses troops along the border.



The Ukrainian power grid was built in the days of the Soviet Union and is connected to Russia’s, making the software as familiar to the attackers as to its operators.Credit...Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

By David E. Sanger and Julian E. Barnes
Dec. 20, 2021

WASHINGTON — In the closing days of 2015, the lights went out across a swath of Ukraine as Russian hackers remotely took over an electric utility’s control center and flipped off one power station after another, while the company’s operators stared at their screens helplessly. ... The next year, the same thing happened, this time around Kyiv, the capital.

Now the United States and Britain have quietly dispatched cyberwarfare experts to Ukraine in hopes of better preparing the country to confront what they think may be the next move by President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as he again menaces the former Soviet republic: Not an invasion with the 175,000 troops he is massing on the border, but cyberattacks that take down the electric grid, the banking system, and other critical components of Ukraine’s economy and government.

Russia’s goal, according to American intelligence assessments, would be to make Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, look inept and defenseless — and perhaps provide an excuse for an invasion.

In one sense, the Russian cybercampaign against Ukraine never stopped, American officials say, though until recently it bubbled along at a low level. But in interviews, American officials and experts say the action has stepped up over the past month even while public attention has been focused on the troop buildup.

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David E. Sanger is a White House and national security correspondent. In a 38-year reporting career for The Times, he has been on three teams that have won Pulitzer Prizes, most recently in 2017 for international reporting. His newest book is “The Perfect Weapon: War, Sabotage and Fear in the Cyber Age.” @SangerNYT • Facebook

Julian E. Barnes is a national security reporter based in Washington, covering the intelligence agencies. Before joining The Times in 2018, he wrote about security matters for The Wall Street Journal. @julianbarnes • Facebook

A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 21, 2021, Section A, Page 11 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. and Britain Are Helping Ukraine Brace for Potential Russian Cyberstrike. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe