The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is heating up not only on the ground but also in cyberspace. As soon as Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the opening of a special military operation in the Donbass region on the morning of February 24, a series of large-scale attacks on the cyberspace were immediately recorded targeting many targets. important Ukraine.
In response, the Ukrainian side is also implementing a plan to urgently recruit a volunteer “IT army”. consists of security researchers and hackers without any identity to carry out cyberattacks on 31 Russian entities. This list includes government agencies, banks, and many other critical infrastructures.
In a Twitter post on the afternoon of February 27, Ukraine’s Digital Transformation Minister Mykhaylo Fedorov announced that the government needed help from “digital talents” who volunteered to participate in the event. a special “cyber warfare force”. The primary goal of this “army” is none other than to cause maximum damage to the important network infrastructure of the Russian side, acting as a special component of the digital warfare plan. which is no stranger to many recent conflicts.
Soon after, a Telegram channel dedicated to the force of the day was created, which detailed a list of targets to be attacked. This list has a total of 31 different entities, including Russian government agencies, government IP addresses, government mail servers and storage devices, 3 major banks, support corporations’ critical infrastructure support, and even Yandex, the popular search engine and email gateway in Russia. The Ukrainian side also left open the possibility of adding other targets in the future.
This “IT army” was formed shortly after the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense began recruiting the underground hacker community to support cyberattacks against Russia.
The call to action was published through Yegor Aushev, founder of Cyber Unit Technologies, accompanied by an application form on Facebook. Aushev claims that hackers around the world are siding with Ukraine, even with individuals from Russia.
However, experts also warn those who are intending to join this force to think carefully. Distributed denial of service attacks, computer network compromises, and website vandalism is illegal in most countries, regardless of the goal. While the governments of countries supporting Ukraine can turn a blind eye to cyber activity against Russia during this time, any legal implications of conducting attacks need to be addressed. careful consideration.
Previously, the notorious hacker group Anonymous also announced support for Ukraine. Several Twitter accounts linked to Anonymous revealed to have taken down many Russian government websites, including the state-sponsored news site Russia Today. Earlier, the news agency confirmed they were targeted by a massive DDoS cyber attack.
