Tech

Ukraine’s Digital Army Cyberattacks to counter Russia’s attack


Formed out of anger against Russia’s blitzkrieg, Ukraine’s hundreds of volunteer “hackers” corps were more than just a paramilitary hacking force in the first major war of its time. Great Internet in Europe. It is very important for information warfare and intelligence sources from the crowd.

“We really are a pack. Roman Zakharov, 37, IT executive at Ukraine’s bootstrap digital army hub, said.

Inventions by volunteer hackers include software tools that allow smartphone and computer owners anywhere to engage in formal distributed denial-of-service attacks. Russian sites for bots on Telegram The messaging platform blocks misinformation, allows people to report Russian military positions, and provides instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails and basic first aid.

Zahkarov ran research at an automation startup before joining Of Ukraine digital self-defense corps. His team is StandForUkraine. Its ranks include software engineer, marketing director, graphic designer and online advertising buyer, he said.

The movement is global, involving IT professionals in the Ukrainian diaspora, whose works include anti-war websites and graphic images of death and destruction in hopes of mobilizing the Russians against the invasion.

“Both of our countries are afraid of a single man – (Russian President Vladimir) Putin,” said Zakharov. Volunteers, he said, reach out directly to the Russians with phone calls, emails and text messages, and send videos and photos of soldiers who have perished from invasion forces from central China. virtual call center.

Some build websites, such as a “website where Russian mothers can browse (photos of) Russian men arrested to find their sons,” Zakharov said by phone from Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine.

It is difficult to gauge the effectiveness of network volunteers. Russian government websites have repeatedly been taken offline, if for short periods of time, by DDoS attacks, but in general they are fixable with countermeasures.

It is impossible to say what percentage of the disruption – including more damaging attacks – is caused by freelancers working independently but in solidarity with Ukrainian hackers.

A tool called “Liberator” allows anyone in the world with a digital device to become part of a DDoS attack network, or botnet. The tool’s programmers codify new goals as priorities change.

But is it legal? Some analysts say it violates international networking rules. Its Estonian developers said they acted “in coordination with Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation”.

Victor Zhora, Ukraine’s top cybersecurity official, emphasized at the war’s first online press conference on Friday that home-grown volunteers only attack what they perceive to be military targets. affairs, in which he covers the Kremlin-controlled financial, media, and railway sectors. He did not discuss specific goals.

Zakharov did. He said Russia’s banking sector was well fortified against the attack, but some telecommunications networks and railway services were not. He said cyberattacks organized by Ukraine briefly disrupted the sale of railway tickets in western Russia around Rostov and Voronezh, and knocked down phone service for a time in the region. Eastern Ukraine has been controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014. These claims cannot be independently verified.

A group of Belarusian hackers calling themselves the Cyber ​​Republican Party also appears to have disrupted rail service in neighboring Belarus this week, seeking to disturb Russian troops transiting this week. A spokesman said on Friday that sales of e-tickets remained down after their malware attack froze railway IT servers.

Over the weekend, Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced the creation of a volunteer cyber army. Ukraine’s IT army now has 290,000 followers on Telegram.

Zhora, deputy head of the state’s special liaison agency, said one job of the Ukrainian volunteers was to gather intelligence that could be used to attack Russian military systems.

Some cybersecurity experts have expressed concern that calling for help from freelancers who violate cyber standards could have dangerously escalatory consequences. A shadowy group claims to have hacked Russian satellites; Dmitry Rogozin, Director General of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, called the claim false but was also quoted by Interfax news agency that such a cyberattack would be considered an act of war.

When asked if he approves of the type of hate attack being carried out under the umbrella of the hacktivist brand Anonymous – for which anyone can claim – Zhora said, “We don’t welcome any any illegal activity in cyberspace”.

He added: “But the world order changed on February 24, when Russia invaded.

The overall effort has been spurred by the creation of a group called Ukraine Cyber ​​Volunteers led by the civilian cybersecurity executive, Yegor Aushev, in collaboration with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. Aushev says it has more than 1,000 volunteers.

Mr. Zhora said on Friday that most of Ukraine’s telecommunications and internet were operating normally despite power outages in areas occupied by the invading Russian forces. He reported on 10 cases of hostile attacks on local government websites in Ukraine to spread false propaganda saying that the Ukrainian government had surrendered.

Zhora said Russian hackers are believed to continue to try to spread destructive malware in targeted email attacks on Ukrainian officials and – in what he sees as a new tactic – to infect each citizen’s device. Three instances of such malware were detected during the preparation for the invasion.

The US Cyber ​​Command has supported Ukraine since before the invasion. Ukraine does not have a dedicated military cyber unit. It stood up when Russia attacked.

Zhora predicts an escalation in Russia’s cyber-aggression – many experts believe that worse is yet to come.

Meanwhile, donations from the global IT community continue to pour in. A few examples: NameCheap donated internet domains while Amazon Zakharov said he was generous with cloud services.


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