Sabotage: Russia Targeting U.S. Infrastructure

Vladimir Putin is targeting critical infrastructure all around the world, including the United States.

Putin's Attacks on Europe's Rail System

Russia has long been attempting to sabotage European energy infrastructure. Throughout the years, especially during Vladimir Putin's long and bloody reign as Russian dictator, the attacks have been prevalent and numerous. Now, a new Financial Times report suggests that Russia's quest to destabilize the EU doesn't end with energy. According to the Czech Republic's Transport Minister, Martin Kupka, there have been "thousands of attempts to weaken our [rail] systems" since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine alone. 

The attempts, organized by the Kremlin and carried out by Russian hackers, included attacks on signaling systems, as well as the networks of, Ceske Drahy, the Czech National Railway Operator. In the past, the attacks have disabled ticketing services and caused significant concern over the potential of serious railway accidents, that may disable one of the EU's chief methods of travel. When Putin controls the signals, only a hellscape will follow. 

America's Critical Infrastructure Under Attack

While Europe finds itself under attack, the United States isn't insulated from Russian aggression, especially in light of America's significant financial support for Ukraine. The Biden administration recently put out a warning regarding an increase of Russian cyber attacks on American water systems. 

A water tower in Texas, for example, mysteriously started flooding in what was found to be an attack by Russian hackers, but this is only the tip of the proverbial iceburg. The United States government fears that our entire infrastructure, including water systems are under threat. If our water system alone is attacked successfully, imagine the chaos a malicious, fascist, anti-Democracy Russia can cause simply by hacking the system. Floods, mass poisonings, and the complete destruction of the American water supply all come to mind. Such an attack would leave America at the mercy of the blood thirsty dictator, Vladimir Putin. 

Head of American Counter Intelligence, Mike Casey, faces Russian cyber attacks daily,

"The scale is impressive and terrifying...Fortunately for me, and unfortunately for everybody else, counterintelligence, it turns out, is a growth business. More players are getting into it with more tools, going after more targets." 

In recent years, those attacks include the Colonial Pipeline, meat producer JBS, and the government's system operator, Solar Winds. U.S. officials warn of the scope of such attacks, stating that, "Everything, everywhere, all at once," is under threat. Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said the following, 

"What is most alarming about this is the focus of this is not on data theft or intellectual property theft, but rather to burrow deep into our critical infrastructure with the intent of launching destructive or disruptive attacks, in the event of a major conflict." 

The FBI agrees and has recently made the public aware of Russian attempts to scan energy companies and other critical infrastructure in the United States. Assistant director of the FBI's cyber division, Bryan Vorndran, testified before Congress, "The threat from Russia in a criminal sense, in the nation state sense, is very very real - and current."

According to Vorndran, "instances of Russian scanning," on the U.S. energy sector have been on the increase. This is Russia's "reconnaissance phase," a testing of weaknesses, the calm before the storm, before the imminent and inevitable large-scale attack. Vorndran attests that there are compromises found in some critical U.S. infrastructure, but he is unable to speak openly to which ones. 

Russia's Plan To Cut Off The Internet

This all leads us here. Arguably Russia's greatest capability to cause significant damage to the West, lies underwater with an elite group of submarines. Undersea reconnaissance is something that Russia excels at and is ahead of the game. Nearly impossible to combat, Russia's team of elite submarines pose a specific threat to critical undersea pipelines. What most people don't know or understand is that, "90% of internet communications are under the sea," according to Didier Maleterre, deputy commander of the security alliance's Allied Maritime Commander. The former submariner continued, 

"All our links between the U.S., Canada, and Europe are transmitting under the sea, so there are a lot of vulnerabilities." 

Russia has developed numerous ways to disrupt these underwater commissions including using their submarines to simply cut the pipelines and internet cable. According to Maleterre, 

"That's a very important concern because it's a security issue for nearly 1 billion NATO-nation civilians."

Maleterre's warnings come mere weeks after a U.K. thinktank published its findings, warning governments to prepare strategy for what they termed as 'seabed warfare.' According to their findings, Russia has already begun exploring the Atlantic's undersea infrastructure as a weak point. There have already been reports of suspicious Russian activity in the area, including mysterious cable-cutting incidents. 

What Now?

All of this poses a significant threat to the free world and raises serious questions. Are we prepared to be in the dark, if and when the internet goes out? In what ways, will society react when the main method of communication has been turned off? At this point, is prevention of such malice even a realistic possibility? 

Such news, no doubt puts more emphasis on the importance of Ukraine aid. If Ukraine, can resoundingly defeat Russia, then it's much more likely that these attempts to destroy Western Democracy will end. They will continue, however so long as Russia is allowed to exist in its current context. As long as Russia remains a mob-run KGB dictatorship, it will continue to spread malice throughout the world. Cutting off the head of the snake may be the only way of invoking long-term legitimate change that inevitably saves the world from Russian evil. 

***********READ: Declaration of War - Russians Behind Havana Syndrome*****************