According to Reuters, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry is recruiting volunteers from underground hacking groups to help defend Ukraine's vital infrastructure and help the Ukrainian military carry out cyber espionage operations against the Russian military.
In addition, at around 6 o'clock this morning, Anonymous, the world's largest political hacking group, tweeted a cyber war against Russia and said it had shut down the website of Russia Today (RT). Russia Today (RT) briefly experienced inaccessibility, which has now been restored.
At noon on the 25th, "Anonymous" once again released a message saying that it would launch a "full-scale" cyber attack on the Russian government website.
Screenshot of the Reuters report
According to Reuters, from the morning of the 24th, requests to recruit volunteers began to appear on the Ukrainian hacking forum. "Ukrainian cyber community! It's time to get involved in our nation's cyber defenses," the post read. The post asked hackers and cybersecurity experts to submit applications through Google Docs and list their expertise (such as malware development) as well as proof of professional competence.
The post was written by Yegor Aushev, co-founder of Cyber Unit Technologies in Kiev. He revealed that he wrote the post at the request of a senior official of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, who contacted him on the 24th. Oschev's company was once known for working with the Ukrainian government to protect critical infrastructure.
Another person directly involved in this work confirmed that the Ministry of Defense made this request on the morning of the 24th.
According to Oshev, volunteers will be divided into defensive and offensive network units. Defensive units will be used for defensive infrastructure, such as power plants and water supply systems. Offensive volunteer units will help the Ukrainian military in conducting cyber espionage operations against the Russian military.
"There are troops in our country," Oschev said, "and we need to know what they're doing."
On the evening of the 24th, Oshev revealed that he had received hundreds of statements and would begin a review to "ensure that there are no Russian agents among them." Oschev admits that efforts to build a cyber military force "came very late."
The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense did not comment on this. An official at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington said he was "unable to confirm or deny" information from social platforms and declined a request for comment.
According to researchers at the cybersecurity company ESET, on the 23rd, Ukraine discovered a new destructive software that attacked hundreds of computers of government agencies and a financial institution, which Ukraine suspected was a hacking attack launched by the Russian side. Russia has denied the allegations.
A Ukrainian security official said earlier this month that Ukraine does not have a dedicated military cyber force, according to the Washington Post. "It is our task to build them this year," he said.
In addition, at about 6 a.m. today, the hacking group Anonymous tweeted that it would launch a cyber war against Russia. At around 6:30 a.m., the group said it had shut down the Russia Today (RT) website.
At present, the Russia Today (RT) website has been restored.
In addition to this account, on February 16, another Anonymous TV account posted a video threatening that if the crisis escalated, they would "hijack" industrial control systems. As of the morning of the 25th, at least three accounts called "Anonymous" claimed to be carrying out cyber attacks on Russia, targeting Russian government websites, network operators and so on. Under the topic of "OpRussia", they published one attack after another on the Russian network.
On the morning of the 25th, the organization "Anonymous" said: "'Anonymous' is currently participating in the action against the Russian Federation. Our actions are directed against the Russian government. It is likely that the private sector will also be affected, which is inevitable. ”
Some "Anonymous" claimed that it attacked Russian internet service providers Com2Com, PTT-Teleport Moscow, RELCOM and Sovam Teleport. There are also "anonymous" who say they are responsible for shutting down the websites of the Kremlin, the Russian government and the Russian Defense Ministry. According to the observer network query, the website can currently be browsed normally.
At noon on the 25th, the "Anonymous TV" organization once again released a message that it would launch a "full-scale" cyber attack on the Russian government website.
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