Cyber-enabled kinetic targeting on the upswing, report finds

Nation-states have been increasingly leveraging cyberattack expertise to reinforce physical intrusions as part of cyber-enabled kinetic targeting warfare, CyberScoop reports.

Adoption of cyber-enabled kinetic targeting has been apparent with Iran's utilization of real-time intelligence from security cameras breached by state-backed threat operation MuddyWater in missile attacks against Israel in June, according to Amazon Threat Intelligence. More nation-states are expected to embrace cyber-enabled kinetic targeting as digital reconnaissance has amplified physical attacks, said Amazon Integrated Security Chief Information Security Officer CJ Moses.

With such attacks noted by Amazon Chief Security Officer Steve Schmidt to require expertise from both threat intelligence professionals and critical infrastructure operators, more comprehensive threat intelligence sharing between the government and private sector is necessary.

"Traditional cybersecurity frameworks treat the digital and the physical threats as really separate domains, but we realized, through our own internal work and our research, of course, that this separation is not only artificial but actually detrimental," said Schmidt.