Russian Hackers Are 8 Times Faster than Other Threats, Cybersecurity Firm Reports

CrowdStrike's new report says Russians also quicker than North Koreans, Iranians and criminals.

Matrix style graphics are seen on an Apple iPhone in this photo illustration on January 22, 2019. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Matrix style graphics are seen on an Apple iPhone in this photo illustration on January 22, 2019. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
NurPhoto via Getty Images

A new report from a leading cybersecurity firm claims that Russian hackers are eight times faster than their closest competitors.

According to an analysis by CrowdStrike, the company that discovered Russians had hacked the Democratic National Committee, hackers from Russian intelligence are quicker on their keyboards than the North Koreans, the Chinese, the Iranians, and even sophisticated criminals.

By looking into “breakout time” – the speed with which a hacking organization can bust into a network and begin stealing data – CrowdStrike concluded Russian hackers are the fastest threat on the ‘net.

“It is quite remarkable to see that Russia-based threat actors are almost eight times as fast as their speediest competitor — North Korea-based adversaries, who themselves are almost twice as fast as intrusion groups from China,” CrowdStrike says in the report.

The cybersecurity company also notes that despite giving lip-service to cutting down on their cyber activities, hackers from nations targeting the West increased their internet attacks in 2018.

“Behind the scenes, they doubled down on their cyber espionage operations – combining those efforts with further forays into destructive attacks and financially motivated fraud,” the report said.

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