Russian hackers have launched several cyber-attacks against Ukraine, allegedly supporting Moscow’s military operations and cyber-propaganda campaigns, Microsoft said in a report released today.
The incidents reported in the report, some of which have not been disclosed to date, suggest that cyberattacks have played a more important role in this war than was known to the general public.
The digital attack, which, according to Microsoft, began a year before the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, is likely to have laid the groundwork for various military operations in the country, researchers say.
Between February 23 and April 8, Microsoft reported a total of 37 catastrophic Russian cyber-attacks in Ukraine.
The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The report’s findings highlight that digital and military blows can now be combined in war.
“Russian generals and spies have been trying to integrate cyberattacks into the campaign while facing difficulties on the battlefield,” said Thomas Reed, a professor of strategic studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Hexagon University.
Microsoft says Russia’s cyber-attacks and military operations have worked “in combination against a common goal.” The technology company notes that it could not decide whether this correlation was due to coordinated decision-making or simply to common goals.
For example, in a timetable published in the Microsoft report, it is noted that on March 1 – the day a Russian missile hit the TV tower in Kyiv – media companies in the Ukrainian capital were attacked by hackers.
In another case, there were “suspicious” Russian moves to critical infrastructure in the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, two weeks before the region’s extended power outage on March 3.
The next day, Microsoft reported that Russian hackers had broken into a government network in Vinnytsia, central Ukraine. Two days later, rockets leveled the city’s airport.
Viktor Zora, Ukraine’s top cybersecurity official, said today that he still sees Russian cyber-attacks on telecommunications companies and power transmission system operators. “We should not underestimate Russian hackers, but neither should we overestimate their potential,” he said.
He thanked Microsoft, the US government and European allies for their support in cybersecurity.
Since the start of the war, academics and analysts have said that Russia appeared to be less active in cyberspace than expected.
Two weeks ago, the US government publicly unveiled a cyber weapon, known as Pipedream, designed to attack industrial plants. Although it was not associated with Russia, it is considered extremely dangerous and its discovery coincides with the war in Ukraine.
Source: Capital
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