The war in Ukraine and the risks of cyberconflicts
On February 15 and 16, the major banks in Ukraine were hacked, then on the eve of the Russian invasion, government sites were put out of service. The digital attack was therefore ahead of the tanks.
It has plagued no less than 70 Ukrainian sites, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet of Ministers and the Security and Defense Council. The attack targeted the two largest Ukrainian banks, PrivatBank and Oschadbank. It was, then, the largest Ukrainian cyberattack in history.
OBLIGATION TO EXPECT THE WORST
A message circulates through the Ukrainian sites: “Be afraid and expect the worst!”
“Ukraine, unfortunately, has been Russia’s cyber playground for years.” Ciaran Martin, founder of the National Cyber Security Center
The United Kingdom and the United States National Security Council claim that Vladimir Putin is indeed the author of these cyberattacks. However, the Russian president denies this accusation.
The two big banks, after confirming the attack, fortunately ensure that their customers’ funds are not affected. It should be remembered that the Ukrainian defense was already on alert.
Its intelligence agency, the SBU, claims to have neutralized more than 2,200 cyberattacks against Ukrainian state authorities in 2021. According to US intelligence, in the past 10 years, the top cyberattacks were Russian in origin. Place of Ukrainians and caused billions of dollars in losses.
Ukraine as a Cybercrime Sandbox
If Ciaran Martin speaks of Ukraine as a playground for cyberattacks, he is not the only one. Ukrainian cybersecurity founder Oleh Derevianko says attacks happen every day in the country.
Ukraine has gradually become a veritable sandbox for testing new digital weapons. Russian-affiliated hacker groups such as Fancy Bear, Cozy Bear and NotPetay ’s Sandworm have been testing their strategies on Ukrainian networks for several years.
As a reminder, in the spring of 2014, Russian hackers hacked into the Central Elections Commission creating real political chaos. In 2015, the BlackEnergy malware carried out the first cyberattack against a large-scale energy company. More than 230,000 Ukrainians lose their electricity for 6 hours. In 2016, city lights are targeted.
“Integrated into European networks, Ukraine provides a gateway to hack into the rest of Europe.” Laurens Cerulus, journalist for Politico
In 2017, the hacker group NotPetya attacked several Ukrainian companies causing financial damage of more than 10 billion dollars. It should be noted, however, that most companies use pirated and unofficially protected software. This is what makes them particularly easy to drill and control.
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CYBER RESILIENCE
It is the ability of an entity to continuously provide defense, despite cyberattacks. The United States has invested $10 million in cyber resilience, since the 2014 election chaos in Ukraine. A large part of this budget supports Ukraine in securing its systems.
However, for the European Union in particular, the cyberattacks underline the urgency of strengthening Ukraine’s cyberdefenses in general.
Fighting misinformation
The most visible aspect of this cyberconflict, worrying Russians and Ukrainians, is the dazzling disinformation organized by Vladimir Putin. Through total control of social and news media, the Russian President intends to manipulate Russian public opinion in favor of his ideology. Will he make it?
Volodymyr Zelensky called for the formation of cyber resistance, asking all Ukrainians with skills to prepare to go cyber-spy on the adversary.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Cerulus, Laurens. (2022). How Ukraine became a test bed for cyberweaponry . Politico.
McMillan, Robert and Volz, Dustin. (2022). Ukraine Hacks Signal Broad Risks of Cyberwar Even as Limited Scope Confounds Experts. The Wall Street Journal.
Seibt, Sebastian. (2022). War in Ukraine: There has never been such a variety of cyber operations in a conflict. France 24.
The Economist Newspaper. (2022). Will war in Ukraine lead to a wider cyber-conflict?
Wikipedia. (2022). 2022 Ukraine cyberattacks.
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