Cyberspace wars seem to be the next step at deflecting cyberattacks on Ukrainian websites and institutions. The role of cybersecurity in the country becomes paramount as the conflict seeps into the digital space. Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said that the government will create its own ‘IT army’ to fight against Russia’s digital intrusions.
“We are creating an IT army,” Fedorov wrote in a Tweet linked to a channel on the Telegram messaging app that published a list of prominent Russian websites. He added that there would be tasks assigned for those involved, and they would continue to fight on the cyber front to defend the nation. The first task to be conducted by cyber specialists was posted on the channel.Â
We are creating an IT army. We need digital talents. All operational tasks will be given here: https://t.co/Ie4ESfxoSn. There will be tasks for everyone. We continue to fight on the cyber front. The first task is on the channel for cyber specialists.
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 26, 2022
The announcement came after a report by Reuters revealed that was the government was asking for volunteers from the country’s hacker communities to help protect critical infrastructures like power plants and water systems and conduct cyber spying missions against Russian troops. Several requests for volunteers began to be listed on hacker forums since the 24th, when the invasion into Ukrainian borders began.
Yegor Aushev, the co-founder of a cybersecurity company in Kyiv that routinely works with Ukraine’s government on the defense of critical infrastructure, told reporters that he posted the request at the behest of a senior Defense Ministry official who contacted him Thursday.
Around 31 websites of significant businesses and state organizations in Russia were posted, including the energy company Gazprom, in the telegram channel. It also included Russia’s second-largest oil producer Lukoil, three banks, and some government websites. The official website of the Kremlin and those of the office of Russian President Vladimir Putin went down yesterday after a series of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were reported. The authorities also said several government and state media websites were also hit.
Ukraine has borne the brunt of cybercrime in the past few weeks, after malicious data wiping software was found circulating in servers across the country last week, and also suffered DDoS attacks on Feb 17th that temporarily took down Ukrainian banking and government websites.
Edited by- Subbuthai Padma
Published by- Radhika Nayak
