The NCSC and CISA have issued a warning about the evolving threat from Russia-backed hacktivist threat actors targeting critical national infrastructure (CNI), with hacktivist groups targeting vulnerable industrial control systems resulting in physical disruptions in the US. These hacktivist or mercenary groups, not directly overseen by Russian intelligence agencies, are considered dangerous as they aim to achieve disruptive or even destructive impacts on CNI organizations, using techniques like distributed denial of service attacks and website defacement. NCSC recommends immediate cyber security posture refreshment, emphasizing secure system administration and guidance on defending operational technology from hacktivists
CNI operators are advised to harden remote access to their systems and take proactive steps to mitigate the risk against potential future attacks. ```https://www.computerweekly.com/news/366583203/NCSC-updates-warning-over-hacktivist-threat-to-CNI