The Russian invasion of Ukraine poses an immediate humanitarian crisis due to traditional warfare tactics. However, in an increasingly digitized world, do technology decision makers fear cybersecurity-based attacks within Ukraine and upon their own countries and businesses? One-Minute Insights on timely topics are available to Gartner Peer Insights members. Sign up for access to over 100 more, and new insights each week.

1. Cybersecurity Impacts
of the Russian Invasion
of Ukraine

2. One Minute Insights:
Many decision makers
believe that Russia poses
a cyberthreat to their
country, and that there
will be an increase in
cyberattacks over the
coming weeks
Most believe that Russia
poses a cyberthreat to
their business, while
many believe their
organizational leadership
has underestimated this
threat
Over half believe that
their government is
underestimating the
cybersecurity threat
Russia poses to their
country
The cyberthreat from
Russia on businesses has
increased since the
invasion of Ukraine
The volume and severity
of attacks on Ukraine are
expected to increase
over the coming weeks
Ransomware is the top
identified Russian
cyberattack of concern
Utilities are the top
identified target of
concern for
cybersecurity attacks
from Russia

3. Cybersecurity Impacts
of the Russian Invasion
of Ukraine
The Russian invasion of Ukraine poses an immediate humanitarian crisis due to traditional
warfare tactics. However, in an increasingly digitized world, do technology decision
makers fear cybersecurity-based attacks within Ukraine and upon their own countries and
businesses?
One-Minute Insights on timely topics are available to Gartner Peer Insights members.
Sign up for access to over 100 more, and new insights each week.
Data collection: March 11 - March 14, 2022
Respondents: 259 tech decision makers

4. Most believe Russia to be a
growing cybersecurity threat, and
that their government is
underestimating that threat
Over three-quarters (79%) of decision makers think Russia
poses a cyberthreat to their country.
n = 259
Do you think Russia poses a
cyberthreat to your country?
79%
Yes
10%
No
11%
Unsure

5. of respondents think that the volume of cyberattacks
originating in Russia will increase over the coming weeks.
88%
Do you think Russia will increase or decrease the volume of
cyberattacks in your country over the coming weeks?
n = 204
Significant
increase
Moderate
increase No change
Moderate
decrease
Significant
decrease
24%
64%
2%
7%
3%

6. The majority (84%) think cyberattacks originating in Russia will
increase in severity over the coming weeks.
Do you think Russia will increase or decrease the severity
of cyberattacks in your country over the coming weeks?
27%
Significant
increase
2%
Significant decrease
2%
Moderate
decrease
12%
No change
57%
Moderate increase
n = 204

7. Almost two-thirds (60%) of decision makers consider
their government to be underestimating the
cybersecurity threat Russia poses to their country.
Do you think your government has
appropriately estimated the cyberthreat
Russia poses to your country?
54%
Somewhat
underestimated
32%
Appropriately
estimated
3%
Somewhat
overestimated
2%
Severely overestimated
3%
Not sure
6%
Severely underestimated
n = 259

8. “[We are] working with
relevant government
agencies.”
“Threat Intelligence and correlated
IoCs [Indicators of Compromise]
are critical for monitoring systems
and assets at higher risk in this
environment. Sharing threat Intel
with partners across the industry is
paramount for industry protection.”
- C-suite, software industry, 10,000+ employees
- Director, financial industry,
1,000 - 5,000 employees

9. The number of cyberattacks in Ukraine will increase in volume and
severity over the coming weeks, many believe, while utilities is the
top identified target of concern
Looking specifically at Ukraine,
81%of decision makers believe that Russia will
increase the volume of cybersecurity attacks
on Ukraine in the coming weeks.
Do you think Russia will increase or
decrease the volume of cyberattacks in
Ukraine over the coming weeks?
37%
Significant increase
44%
Moderate increase
2%
Significant
decrease
2%
Moderate
decrease
16%
No change
n = 259

10. 82%
of respondents think that Russia
will increase the severity of
cybersecurity attacks on
Ukraine in the coming weeks.
Do you think Russia will
increase or decrease the
severity of cyberattacks
in Ukraine over the
coming weeks?
41%
Significant increase
41%
Moderate
increase
15%
No change
2%
Moderate
decrease
1%
Significant
decrease
n = 259

11. Utilities (74%) is the top Russian cyberattack
target of concern among decision makers,
followed by communications (66%) and
financial systems (63%).
What potential targets of Russian
cyberattacks concern you the most?
74%
66%
63%
40%
28%
Utilities
(e.g., gas, electricity, water)
Communications
(e.g., internet, telecom)
Financial systems
Government services
Manufacturing/supply
chain infrastructure
Hospital systems
Businesses aiding the
Ukrainian resistance
Private citizens aiding the
Ukrainian resistance
Other
24%
21%
8%
0%
n = 259

12. “[We have] delegated some
of the employees to
monitor Russian traffic.”
- Director, financial industry,
5,000 - 10,000 employees
“We are monitoring the
network connectivity
from Russia and Ukraine
to our services.”
- VP, software industry,
1,000 - 5,000 employees

13. Do you think Russia poses a cyberthreat to
your business?
57%
Yes
24%
No
19%
Not sure
Just over half (57%) of decision makers believe that
Russia poses a cyberthreat to their business.
Over half believe Russia
poses a cyberthreat to their
business, while many
believe their leadership has
underestimated the threat
n = 259

14. Do you think the leadership at your company
has appropriately estimated the cyberthreat
Russia poses to your business?
Close to half of decision makers (44%) believe the
leadership at their organization has underestimated the
cyberthreat Russia poses on their business, though the
same number (44%) believes that leadership has
appropriately estimated the threat.
40%
Somewhat
underestimated
44%
Appropriately
estimated
6%
Somewhat
overestimated
1%
Severely overestimated
5%
Not sure
4%
Severely underestimated
n = 259

15. “We are not afraid of attacks
aimed on us. However, we
inform our employees about
possible disinformation.”
- C-suite, financial industry,
5,000 - 10,000 employees
“[We are] implementing SIEM,
DLP, Threat Hunting, URL
Threat Protection, IDS/IPS.”
- C-suite, manufacturing industry,
10,000+ employees

16. The cyberthreat from Russia on businesses has increased since the
invasion of Ukraine, according to most, with ransomware the top
identified concern
Of those who think Russia poses a cyberthreat to their business,
86% believe the threat has increased since the invasion
of Ukraine.
n = 147
19%
Increased
significantly
67%
Increased
moderately
12%
Stayed the same
0% Decreased significantly
2%
Decreased
moderately
Do you think the cyberthreat Russia poses to your business
has increased or decreased since the invasion of Ukraine?

17. Ransomware (76%) is the top identified cyberattack
of concern from Russia, followed by phishing (68%)
and DDoS (56%).
What kinds of attacks originating from Russia
are you most concerned about?
76%
Ransomware
68%
Phishing
56%
Distributed Denial of
Service (DDoS)
49%
Malware
40%
Data theft
33% Spyware
23% SQL injection
1% Other
0% None of these
n = 147

18. “We are monitoring
our backups very
carefully as the
backups are surely
any attacker’s
first priority.”
“We are trying to go back to the basics
and review the overall security posture
and ensure that gaps [are] not left open.”
- C-suite, manufacturing industry,
5,000 - 10,000 employees
- C-suite, manufacturing
industry, 1,000 - 5,000
employees
“We are reviewing our Russian vendors.”
- C-suite, financial industry, 1,000 - 5,000 employees

19. “For now I think we are safe
but we certainly need to
prepare ourselves.”
- C-suite, financial industry,
5,000 - 10,000 employees
“We are always doing all we
can to protect [ourselves]
from cybersecurity threats.”
- C-suite, financial industry,
10,000+ employees

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21. Respondent Breakdown
Region
Company Size
Title
North America 76%
APAC8%
EMEA 16%
C-Suite
<1,001
employees
10,001+
employees
Director
VP
34%
30%
15%
1,001-5,000
employees
Manager
21%
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Source: Gartner Peer Insights, Cybersecurity Impacts of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine survey
5,001 - 10,000
employees
39% 25%
9%
27%