With cyber attacks on,and physical invasion of,their country by Russia this week,some Ukrainians are hitting back in cyber space.

With cyber attacks on,and physical invasion of,their country by Russia this week,some Ukrainians are hitting back in cyber space.Credit:Getty Images

In interviews with Bloomberg News,several Ukrainians with computer expertise said they had joined a group of “cyber volunteers” who plan to usecyber attacks to fight back against the Russian military’s invasion of the country.

The makeshift hacker organisation was responding to a call from Ukraine’s government,which on Thursday asked for their help protecting the country from Russian troops,according to several of the organisers. Reuters previously reported the government’s request for cyber-security assistance.

Yegor Aushev,co-founder of Kyiv-based cyber-security company Cyber Unit Technologies,is helping to organise the effort. He said in an interview that so far about 500 people had come forward to participate with the cyber volunteers.

Aushev said people worldwide had volunteered to help the Ukrainian hacking operation,including a handful from Russia who were against their government’s actions in Ukraine. “If presidents of other countries can’t fight with Ukraine,people of other countries are ready to do it,” Aushev said. Bloomberg couldn’t independently verify that Russians were participating in the volunteer hacking effort.

A representative for the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and government cyber security officials didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Tanya Lokot,an associate professor at Dublin City University who specialises in protest and digital rights issues in eastern Europe,said that Ukraine had a strong community of activist hackers,sometimes called hacktivists,who came together in 2014,responding to Russia’s invasion and annexation of Crimea.

“I think it’s logical we are seeing a revival of those groups and other people joining in,” said Lokot.

Advertisement

DDoS attacks aimed at taking Russian government websites offline had so far been mostly symbolic,Lokot added,but the hackers could have an impact if they were able to penetrate Russian government databases and publish the information.

Loading

“Russia is fortified in terms of attack and security,but no single resource or server or database is 100 per cent watertight,” she said.

On social media forums,Ukrainian hackers shared lists of targets that included Russian military officials and the websites of the Kremlin,Russia’s military and security council. Others circulated instructions for how to prepare Molotov cocktails in anticipation of Russian troops descending on their towns and cities.

Andrey Loginov,chief technology officer of Swiss secure communications company ARMA Instruments,said he had signed up to help the cyber volunteers. The Ukrainian who lives in London said he arrived in Kyiv for a business trip last week and couldn’t leave due to the Russian invasion.

The volunteers were trying to create “some kind of cyber war unit for Ukraine”,using a combination of government,and non-government resources,Loginov said. He said hackers involved with the group were focusing on analytical and offensive cyber work and planned to carry out “asymmetric actions” that would bring information about the conflict to people in Russia.

Loading

“Russian citizens are victims of propaganda,” he said. “They are pretty isolated. We want to show them what is really happening.”

Another volunteer who has signed up for the hacking campaign,a 17-year-old student of computer sciences in western Ukraine,said he wanted to use his skills to contribute to Ukraine’s fight against Russia. The situation “depends on each of us”,the student said,and “we have to help in any way we can”. He asked to remain anonymous because of safety concerns.

A hacker with a Guy Fawkes mask,a symbol linked to the Anonymous hacking movement. Some hackers affiliated with the collective have declared their own “cyber war” on Russia.

A hacker with a Guy Fawkes mask,a symbol linked to the Anonymous hacking movement. Some hackers affiliated with the collective have declared their own “cyber war” on Russia.Credit:Bloomberg

The Ukrainians have received support from a group of Belarusian activist hackers known as the Cyber Partisans,who have waged campaigns against the pro-Russia government in their country. The group said it was joining the effort to hack Russian government assets and put out a call on social media on Thursday seeking help with what it said was the “fight against the fascist campaign to invade fraternal Ukraine”.

A spokesman for the Cyber Partisans said in a message to Bloomberg that the group was “currently targeting assets inside Belarus,including Russian occupying forces”. The spokesman declined to provide more details because the attack was still ongoing.

Some hackers affiliated with the collective known as Anonymous declared their own “cyber war” on the Russian government and said that they had used DDoS attacks to take down the website of Russian state broadcaster RT. Their claim couldn’t be independently verified.

Loading

On Friday,RT reported that its website – as well as those of the Kremlin,the Duma,and Russia’s Ministry of Defence – had been hit by cyber attacks,with some websites taken offline for “extended periods”. RT told the publicationMotherboard that it was hit with massive DDoS attacks after a statement by Anonymous.

Russian hackers have vowed to hit back. A criminal ransomware gang known as Conti,which cyber security researchers believe operates from Russia,said in a statement posted on its website that it was lending its “full support” to the Russian government. “If anybody will decide to organise a cyberattack or any war activities against Russia,we are going to use our all possible resources to strike back at the critical infrastructures of an enemy,” it said.

Shlomo Kramer,a prominent Israeli cyber security veteran,said he was worried that hacking campaigns waged by competing groups in Ukraine and Russia could quickly spiral out of control.

“This may cause a spillover,that’s the main concern,” said Kramer,who is chief executive officer of Cato Networks,and co-founder of Check Point Software Technologies and Imperva. “The fact this is not government associated – this can’t be contained. It’s a particularly dangerous element of this conflict.”

Bloomberg

Most Viewed in World

Loading