On four occasions this week AlertsUSA subscribers were notified via SMS messages to their mobile devices regarding safety and security matters.

First up, on Monday, AlertsUSA subscribers were informed of a warning statement issued by the White House regarding "evolving intelligence" suggesting Russia is exploring possible cyberattacks against the United States. The statement goes on to urge the private sector across all 16 areas of critical infrastructure, to include energy, chemical, manufacturing, emergency services and the defense industrial base to harden their cyber defenses immediately.

AlertsUSA would add that private individuals should also set aside some time to update antivirus protections on personal computers and mobile devices, as well as verify your home firewall settings. If one needs an example of why this is important, consider the 2017 WannaCry ransomware attack which targeted computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. While the virus only propagated for a few hours before being shut down by discovery of a kill switch, the attack was estimated to have affected more than 200,000 computers across 150 countries, with total damages ranging from hundreds of millions to billions of dollars.

For those readers who are using the popular Russian-made Kaspersky antivirus software on home or office computers, be advised that on Friday of this week, the FCC added AO Kaspersky Lab to its list of communications equipment and services companies that pose "an unacceptable risk to the national security of the United States.” Yep, it is probably not the best idea having Russian-made antivirus software running on your machines while the U.S. and NATO are fighting what is effectively a proxy war with Russia.

Kaspersky, which has a long history of selling antivirus services in the U.S., is the first cybersecurity company and first Russian entity on the FCC's list.

Last week, the FBI issued a bulletin to industry partners warning Russian hackers have recently scanned the networks of at least five U.S. energy companies and 18 other U.S. defense, financial services and IT firms in a possible prelude to destructive intrusions.

The FBI stated that it had identified 140 Russian IP addresses that had engaged in “abnormal scanning activity” against the infrastructure of at least 23 U.S. companies.

NATO Warns of False Flag

On Thursday AlertsUSA subscribers were notified of a warning issued by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Moscow may be seeking to create a false flag by accusing the United States of preparing a chemical-weapons attack on Russia that it could then use to justify its own use of such weapons.

Readers are reminded that last week, Secretary of State Blinken issued a similar warning, and weeks before that, Russia accused the U.S. and Ukraine of planning a biological weapons attack using agents developed in a network of public health reference labs in the country.

Secretary General Stoltenberg says the Western military alliance has agreed to provide Ukraine with equipment to protect itself against chemical, biological, and nuclear threats from Russia.

Also on Thursday, following emergency NATO and G7 summits in Brussels, President Biden said that NATO would be forced to respond if the Kremlin resorted to using chemical weapons.

“We would respond if he uses it. The nature of the response would depend on the nature of the use.”

One day earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warned of a "direct clash" between Russian and NATO forces if peacekeepers from the military alliance are deployed to Ukraine.

Lavrov made the remarks on Wednesday in response to Polish proposals for a NATO and international "peace mission."

Russia Ends Space Cooperation with Europe

Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russia's space agency said on Thursday that Europe had wrecked cooperation by imposing sanctions against his agency. Rogozin went on to say that "we consider further cooperation impossible," and rockets meant to launch European satellites would now be used for Russian companies or countries friendly to Moscow. Well, we can chalk that up as a win for SpaceX.

Readers are reminded that just weeks ago, Rogozin claimed the continuation of sanctions could disrupt the operation of the Russian element of the International Space Station that assists in correcting its orbit. Rogozin's agency also posted a fictional video that threatened to leave American astronaut Mark Vande Hei behind in space and detach Russia's segment of the space station altogether.

Vande Hei is due to return to Earth on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on March 30th alongside two cosmonauts. Their landing site is in Kazakhstan. NASA officials are still expecting him to be on board despite a breakdown in Washington-Moscow relations. After landing, the crew will split up, as is standard practice, with Vande Hei immediately returning to Houston, while the cosmonauts fly back to their training base in Star City, Russia.

Invasion Progress

Below is an invasion map as of March 26 based on open source reporting. Compare this map with that of last week. As reflected, there has been minimal Russian progress in encircling the capital Kyiv in the North, while positions appear to be firming up in the South and East. From a strategic perspective, Russia has secured a mainland corridor to Crimea, and along with it, the naval base at Sevastopol, access to the Black Sea, and the world's oceans.

AlertsUSA warns that the conflict in Eastern Europe has potential to get much worse, and spillover into neighboring NATO nations is a possibility. Caution is urged if traveling to Europe in the coming months.

AlertsUSA continues to monitor the domestic and international threat environment around the clock and will immediately notify service subscribers, via SMS messages to their mobile devices, of new alerts, warnings and advisories or any developments which signal a change the overall threat picture for American citizens as events warrant.