Ukraine Invasion: What it means for you and your family if Russia retaliates against the US
Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday, launching a coordinated attack by land, sea and air. Joseph Borrel, the EU foreign affairs chief, put it simply: “These are among the darkest hours of Europe since the Second World War.” Countries globally are condemning Russia, weighing in with sanctions to protest, and America’s voice is one of the loudest.
Don’t think for a minute that this invasion is too far removed to impact your life. As the situation continues to evolve, Russia could choose to retaliate against the U.S. over newly-imposed sanctions with cyberwarfare. In 2020, Russian hackers invaded several federal government agencies, including the nuclear weapons agency.
Every-day Americans like you need to brace for massive cyberattacks. Tap or click here to discover how cybercriminals can take down the U.S. power grid. If our sanctions on Russia lead to retaliation, you need to create a plan. Share this story with your friends and family to help them prepare for the worst.
What to know
Kim says it’s almost certain that Russia will hit America with cyberattacks. It would be their way of getting back at U.S. sanctions. There are many pressure points they could hit to maximize the pain.
Firstly, they could cut our fiber-optic cables. When these critical cables are cut, citizens would have to deal with data outages.
That means you could lose your internet connection, storage and even the ability to call someone on your smartphone. Fiber-optic outages slow your work, isolate you and put you in danger since you can’t reach out when you need help.
Even if they don’t come for our cables, they could target our satellites, which are at the center of everyday life. A Russian attack on our satellites could take down a ton of critical sectors, like:
- Internet traffic
- Banking
- Water treatment facilities
- Power plants
- The power grid
They could even disable cellular phones and the GPS network. So if you have to travel a lot for your job, a random attack could leave you stranded in the middle of nowhere with no escape plan.
Make a plan with your family
How do you know the people you care about are OK if no one can get online? Will you still be able to text or otherwise send messages? Have one person in the family be the point of contact.
Check your phone! Dozens of malicious apps caught spying
It’s honestly a miracle that people continue to download apps from the Google Play store at this point. Whether they’re harvesting your data covertly or signing you up for services you don’t need, Android apps loaded with malware are all too common.