Russia is coordinating cyberattacks with the consequences of attacks on Ukraine
Several environmental hacker groups have carried out hundreds of cyberattacks against Ukraine following a Russian incursion into the neighboring country, according to a report published by technology company Microsoft.
The report says that as part of the conduct of such a “hybrid war” Russia often combines cyber attacks with the consequences of impact on the real consequences.
“Immediately before the invasion, we witnessed how, in the case of some large pro-Russian groups, more than 237 operations were undertaken against Ukraine,” says Microsoft, which is working with Ukrainian cybersecurity experts and individual groups to counter such attacks. .
Experts stated that cyber warfare includes “destructive attacks that continue and threaten the well-being of the population.”
In the first week after the invasion, Russian hackers attacked a major Ukrainian television company, according to the report. This happened “on the same day that the state authorities announced their intention to destroy the Ukrainian means of ‘disinformation’ and launched a missile attack on the TV tower in Kyiv.”
The purpose of such coordinated attacks is to “expose or humiliate the Ukrainian government and military and undermine public confidence in those same institutions,” the document says.
Microsoft tracked nearly 40 critical cyberattacks against hundreds of systems, partly due to the generally recognized focus on Ukrainian government organizations at all levels, from federal to municipal, and another 40% of the attacks were strictly countered by a sharp frequency.
Some of these are so-called “sweeps” by which hackers remove sensitive data from encrypted computer systems.
The hackers used a variety of methods to gain access to the Ukrainian system, including “phishing, exploiting unpatched vulnerabilities, and compromising the distribution of information services.”
“These actors often modify their malware with each attack to avoid threats,” the report says. Observers point out that the cyberattack president began preparing his campaign as early as March 2021, nearly a year before Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine.
“As Russian troops began to advance towards the border with Ukraine, we saw that we gained initial access to targets that could be excluded from foreign countries and countries in Western Ukraine,” the statement said.
Microsoft notes that “allergic reactions are probably only part of the activity directed against Ukraine.”