Ukraine’s Counter-Hybrid Campaigns in Cyberspace

In reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Ukrainian government stood up a variety of digital services and volunteer groups to counter Russia’s aggression in and through cyberspace. This paper by guest author Stefan Soesanto, Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich, focuses on two Ukrainian hybrid warfare creations and their activities within the period from February 2022 to July 2023: The IT Army of Ukraine (IT-армія України) which are conducting DDoS and destructive cyber operations in and through the cyber domain, and the Internet Force of Ukraine (Інтернет Війська України) who are active on the information warfare front.

The paper provides readers with insights into (a) how the IT Army and Internet Forces are internally organized and structured, (b) how they function and conduct their campaigns, (c) how they are incorporating volunteers from across the globe and at home, and (d) how these two groups are linked to the Ukrainian government. The author also touches upon broader questions, such as (e) the discernible impact of these campaigns, (f) the subsequent complications for law of armed conflict, and what lessons could be learned.

About the author:

Stefan Soesanto is a Senior Researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) at ETH Zurich. He leads the Cyberdefense Project and is the Co-Team Head of the Risk and Resilience Team. Prior to joining CSS, he was the Cybersecurity & Defense Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and a non-resident James A. Kelly Fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS. Stefan also served as a Research Assistant at RAND’s Brussels office, co-authoring reports for the European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), the European Network Information Security Agency (ENISA), and Dutch Ministry of Security and Justice. Stefan holds an MA from Yonsei University (South Korea) with a focus on security policies, and international law, and a BA from the Ruhr-University Bochum (Germany) in political science and Japanese.

This paper is part of the Campaigning against Hybrid Threats Paper Series, edited by Director of Research Tim Sweijs.