Senate Intelligence Chief Says Russia Has Limited Its Cyberattacks

Russia’s use of cyberweapons to support its invasion of Ukraine has so far been surprisingly muted, but that is more likely due to deliberate restraint than a lack of capabilities, according to the Democratic chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Sen. Mark Warner (D., Va.) said in an interview that his fears of Russian cyberattacks that could cause destructive mayhem in Ukraine and spread without regard for geographic borders had not yet materialized and that the attacks witnessed thus far amounted largely to annoyances.

“In the briefings and the conversations I’ve had with American intelligence and military leadership and cyber experts, I think we’ve been surprised that Russia has not gone and ramped up to some of their better tools,” Mr. Warner said.

Multiple cyber firms earlier this week detected so-called wiper malware, which can delete or destroy data on targeted machines, on computers in Ukraine, and there have been waves of denial of service attacks against Ukrainian government and banking websites meant to knock them offline. On Friday, Ukraine’s cybersecurity emergency response team said Belarusian hackers were targeting the email addresses of Ukrainian military personnel and attempting to steal their log-in credentials.

But the impact and scope so far appears to have been limited, and pales in comparison to prior cyberattacks blamed on Russia that downed parts of the power grid in Ukraine or cost billions in damages globally, or fears that hackers could severely damage other essential critical infrastructure.

In addition to Ukraine, cybersecurity researchers said the wiper malware has been detected on computers in Lithuania and Latvia, members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Mr. Warner has warned that spillover cyberattacks against NATO allies could prompt a larger conflict and trigger Article 5 of the mutual defense pact, but said the cross-border damage appeared minor and largely incidental. “That is not even close to something that would bring in NATO,” he said.

Mr. Warner said he and the intelligence officials he had been speaking with were not certain why Russia appeared to be holding back, but said hubris could be a reason. There are indications that Russia was likewise not using its most well-trained soldiers in its military attacks so far, and that Mr. Putin has underestimated Ukrainian resistance, he said.

“It may be that Putin and the Russian forces were just so overconfident that they could roll over the Ukrainians, they want to hold those tools in reserve,” Mr. Warner said. “You don’t want to show your best stuff unless you need your best stuff.”

Mr. Warner said the situation could rapidly change, however, and that Russia possesses cyber capabilities that could be extremely damaging to Ukraine.

“If they put their A-team on the field, we will know immediately,” Mr. Warner said.