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Ukraine, Cisco Warn Russia Is Preparing for a Cyberattack

Company says it believes Russian hackers have infected 500,000 routers with sophisticated malware.

Cisco Systems said Wednesday that hackers have successfully infected “at least 500,000 routers and storage devices in dozens of countries with sophisticated malicious software,” Reuters reports. Ukraine said this activity was in “preparation for a future Russian cyberattack.” Cisco researcher Craig Williams said the company has “high confidence” that Russians are behind the campaign, as the software shares the same code used in other attacks the U.S. has attributed to Russians. The company says the malware could be used for “espionage, to interfere with internet communications, or launch destructive attacks on Ukraine.” Ukrainian authorities claim Russia is preparing to launch a cyberattack ahead of the Champions League soccer final, which will be held in Kiev on Saturday. “Security Service experts believe the infection of hardware on the territory of Ukraine is preparation for another act of cyber-aggression by the Russian Federation aimed at destabilizing the situation during the Champions League final,” it said in a statement.