Digital volunteers around the world are joining the Russia-Ukraine cyber fights. The cyber warfare related to the Ukraine-Russia conflict is constantly growing. According to Check Point Software Technologies’ research arm, the volume of cyberattacks carried out by and on behalf of both countries since the start of the war has been “staggering”.
“For the first time in history anyone can join a war,” said Lotem Finkelstein, head of threat intelligence at Check Point Software. “We’re seeing the entire cyber community involved, where many groups and individuals have taken a side, either Russia or Ukraine. It’s a lot of cyber chaos,”.
40,000 multinational hackers have volunteered to help Ukraine
Online attacks against Ukrainian military and government sectors jumped by 196 percent in the first three days after the invasion, according to CheckPoint Research. According to the data, they also grew slightly against Russian (4%) and Ukrainian (0.2%) groups. Also, they are declining in most other countries. Since then, Ukrainian authorities estimate some 400,000 multinational hackers have volunteered to help Ukraine, said Yuval Wollman. Yuval is president of the cyber security company CyberProof and the former director-general of the Israeli Intelligence Ministry.
“Grassroots volunteers created widespread disruption graffitiing anti-war messages on Russian media outlets and leaking data from rival hacking operations,” he said. “Never have we seen this level of involvement by outside actors unrelated to the conflict.”
According to CPR’s data, Ukraine has been subjected to a bombardment of online attacks for three weeks. The majority of the attacks are against the country’s leadership and military. Moscow has long denied engaging in cyber fights or assisting in cyberattacks. The Russian embassy in Washington claimed on Twitter on February 19 that it “has never conducted and does not conduct any ‘malicious’ operations in cyberspace.”
Ukraine is grateful for the digital assistance
Moreover, 308,000 people joined a Telegram channel known as the “IT Army of Ukraine”. It is after Ukraine’s digital minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted for help. Gennady Galanter, the co-founder of the information technology firm Provectus, is also one of the group’s members. According to him, the group’s main goals are to disrupt Russian websites, prevent misinformation; and provide factual information to Russian citizens.
Moscow and its backers are generally expected to respond against pro-Ukraine countries, the growing list of banks, and firms departing from the country. Experts warn that retaliatory retribution by Russia and the West might result in a “global cyberwar.”
