Photo: Jens Schlueter / Getty Images
One of the fronts of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been technological, where the government of Vladímir Putin used its military intelligence to attack enemy systems, as part of their war.
However, the response came and from all over the world; Hackers from practically all over the planet joined in the mission to counter the Russian offensive, initially to government sites in Russia, and some in Ukraine, mainly with messages against the war.
According to The New York Times, “It’s crazy, this doesn’t have precedent,” said Matt Olney, director of threat intelligence at security company Cisco Talos. “This is not going to be just a conflict between nations. There will be participants who will not be under the strict control of any government.”
The New York media explains that for the experts, the hundreds of hackers who are now competing to support their respective governments represent a drastic and unpredictable expansion of cyber warfare.
Furthermore, it describes that the involvement of volunteer hackers makes it more difficult to determine who is responsible for an online attack.
Apparent volunteers have stormed Russia and Ukraine with cyberattacks, blurring the lines between state -backed hackers and patriotic amateurs. https://t.co/2raXZSHc5B
—The New York Times (@nytimes) March 5, 2022
Technological Army
Last Saturday, March 5, the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mikhail Fedorov, sent a message to the cybersecurity enthusiasts to a Telegram channel that contained instructions for taking down Russian websites. “There will be homework for everyone.” By Friday, the Telegram channel had more than 285.000 subscribers.
“We are creating a technological army”, he tweeted.
Yegor Aushev, co-founder of the Ukrainian cybersecurity company Cyber Unit Technologies, said he received a flood of notes after posting on social media a call for programmers to get involved. Your company offered a reward of 100. 000 dollars to those who identify flaws in the code of Russian cyber targets.
“It has become an independent machine, a distributed international digital army,” said Aushev . “The biggest cyber attacks against Russia will be carried out soon,” he added, without giving further details.
A Russian counteroffensive is prepared
The New York Times quoted Alex Holden, founder of cybersecurity company Hold Security and who has studied Russian ransomware groups, as saying that volunteer attacks against the Russian government will likely elicit a harsh response. “Those who support the Russian government and its invasion of Ukraine are preparing to retaliate against a number of different targets,” Holden said.
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