Ukrainian counterattack
Just as the Ukrainian authorities have invited people to take up arms, they have also done the same to the hacker underworld with an open letter addressed to anyone who wants to join the fight. “Ukrainian cyber community! It is time to get involved in the cyber defense of our country”, claims the document released by Reuters which is presumably issued from the Ministry of Defense itself.
It is estimated that the number of volunteers of the so-called IT Army exceeds 260,000 people and that, operating under the orders of the digital minister Mykhailo Fedorov, they have put several Russian targets in their sights. Not only to carry out direct attacks, but also to search for weaknesses that can be exploited by government specialists. Added to this are private initiatives such as that of Cyber Unit Technologies, a cybersecurity firm located in Kiev that offers rewards to all hackers who contribute to the fight.
Ukrainian cyber community! It is time to get involved in the cyber defense of our country
Logical strategies to defeat the invader, but also desperate and therefore too dangerous. This is how groups consider it hackers from various parts of the world who believe that those involved are running too high a risk, since the rush of the operation has prevented adequate security measures from being taken and there are too many risks of a counterattack.
Participation is not limited to the parties involved, as digital specialists from around the world have not hesitated to join the fight as true volunteers of digital wars. “It’s crazy, it’s unprecedented,” Matt Olney, director of threat intelligence at security firm Cisco Talos, told Reuters. New York Times . “This is not going to be just a conflict between nations. There will be participants who are not under the strict control of any government.”
This includes individuals, but also groups that have not hesitated to take action on the matter. Such has been the case of Anonymous, which declared itself “officially in cyber war against the Russian government”.
Since then, the collective has attributed several important blows, such as a hack to the Ministry of Defense database and another to public television systems with the transmission of pro-Ukrainian content, as well as content that allegedly seeks to tell the truth behind the war conflict. The latter so that more and more Russians open their eyes and openly demonstrate against the Putin government.
I don’t know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones
And although the participation of the most powerful countries in the world has been lukewarm, they all continue to expect the development of this new digital conflict. As evidenced by the fact that the United States government has offered a $10 million reward “for information leading to the identification or location of any person who, while acting under the direction or control of a foreign government, engages in malicious cyber activity against critical U.S. infrastructure in violation of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA)”. The country’s authorities assure that adequate protection measures have been taken and that at the moment there is no danger. A reassuring message that has not completely diminished the uncertainty of an unprecedented conflict.
Albert Einstein declared at the time that “I don’t know with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” A phrase conceived to refer to the destructive power of the atomic bomb, but which today cannot be dismissed either. for a digital war that looks extremely dangerous for a world that wanders so close to absolute connectivity.