University at Buffalo School of Management

I n the 21st century, war is waged not only on the battlefield, but also virtually. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine shining a spotlight on the issue of digital warfare, we asked two cybersecurity scholars—Alan Katerinsky and Dominic Sellitto, both clinical assis- tant professors from the school's Management Science and Systems Department—to share their perspectives on the potential threat of cyberattacks and how it's affecting businesses. CYBERWARFARE How real is the threat and how are businesses preparing? Trending Topics FA C U LT Y E X P E R T S D I S C U S S C U R R E N T E V E N T S Alan Katerinsky: I consider us a vulnerable popula- tion. If someone is going to hit us with a Pearl Harbor-like cyberattack—a really serious attack to shake people up— it's going to come through finance. And one of the things we did during Russian sanctions was decouple them from the international banking system, which may be one of the best moves that was ever done inadvertently, because now they're cut off. But that doesn't mean Russia can't hire some- one to do it for them—there's an awful lot going on in the background that we do not know. Dominic Sellitto: In the leadup to the conflict in Ukraine, we saw a number of attacks on the country's websites, particularly government sites, with the goal of destabilizing the region. It can be difficult to know who is initiating these attacks because ambiguity can still exist on the internet. Nation states can use proxies so actions may not be traceable back to the country itself, but the intent usually gives it away. AK: The cyberwarfare that's possible from all this is still not yet realized. We are protecting as best we can, but our railroad crossings, natural gas systems and water treat- ment plants are not protected, by and large. The electrical system has been constantly upgraded so it's better protected than it was five or 10 years ago. But another threat to consider is ransomware in hospi- tals. In an environment like that—where you're respon- sible for hundreds of people in medical trauma—it's very easy to get distracted, click on the wrong thing and wipe out a computer system. Then multiply that by every city in America. DS: And that's something that has happened already. The WannaCry ransomware attack that hit the National Health Service in England and health care facilities around the world was craed using vulnerabilities stolen from a contractor doing work for the U.S. government—which goes to show how decentralized we've become in terms of how Katerinsky Sellitto 18 Buffalo Business Autumn 2022

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