As reactions trail the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the technological dimension continues to emerge by the day. Cyberspace has become another platform for this war. Both countries continue to experience diverse adversarial attacks and consequences technologically and within their respective cyber ecosystem.
As reported earlier this week by Techpression, the Russians have been accused of attacking the financial services and various government websites of Ukraine. These attacks serve as the first cyber-offensive in this war. Also, some parts of the second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv, witnessed internet disruption on Thursday. According to NetBlocks, an internet tracking advocacy group reported that about 25 per cent of Kharkiv’s 1.8 million residents and the surrounding region experienced this outage.
On the other hand, many physical attacks have targeted various infrastructures in Ukraine that will disrupt the internet. Power grids, cell towers, and other telecommunication infrastructure are casualties of bombings and armed fights, further decimating Ukraine’s cyberspace.
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On the other hand, Russia has also been a victim of cyber-related attacks since this war began. It was reported that ISPs in Russia are experiencing disruption. Anonymous, a cyber activist group, reported that numerous ISPs had been brought down. Although the credit is not attributed to the Ukrainian government, it appears to be a retaliatory move by members of this group. A quick check of the four reported ISP showed that only relcom.ru had been fully restored, with the remaining three still down.
Despite this impact on Russia, Ukraine has been affected the more. ISPs in Ukraine such as Triolan, are experiencing partial outages, with websites going down due to the numerous cyber-attacks. Hence, this war is not all about mortal and guns or any other kinetic approach. It encompasses the internet, a significant aspect that must not be ignored.
Different Approaches
Each country understands the role of cyberspace in this warfare. Hence, their recognition and support for its deployment in their offensive. The government of Ukraine has approached its cyber offensive in an uncoordinated manner. To secure critical infrastructure and perform cyber-surveillance missions against Russian forces, the Ukrainian government is reportedly looking for volunteers from the country’s hacker underground.
Hackers and cybersecurity experts have been urged to submit their applications through online forms. Co-founder of a cybersecurity firm in Kyiv, Yegor Aushev, told Reuters that an official requested the appointment from Ukraine’s military on Thursday. Aushev’s company Cyber Unit Technologies is well recognised for collaborating with the government to defend critical infrastructure. The volunteers will be in two parts: defensive and offensive cyber units. The offensive unit will concentrate on conducting cyber espionage activity against the Russians.
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On the other hand, the Russian approach is more coordinated and demonstrates long-term cyber capability development. The Russian military was modernised, and cyber techniques were incorporated following Russia’s 2008 retreat from Georgia. Ever since state-sanctioned cyberattacks have dominated Russia’s military strategy. Typically, these attacks are orchestrated by the GRU, Russia’s Main Intelligence Directory. Customised malware (malicious software) is commonly used to attack the systems of a targeted nation’s infrastructure and systems.
A clear demonstration of this impact was the discovery of a new data wiper malware. It has infected hundreds of machines. Russia was accused of this attack. However, the officials from Russia have denied responsibility for these attacks. Likewise, Russia’s embassy in Canberra has denied any role in the most recent strikes on Ukraine.