Vladimir Putin wanted to make “Victory Day”, the celebration of the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany, on May 9, a demonstration in the midst of the Ukrainian war. Not everything went as planned. Beyond a military parade less endowed than in previous years and victories that are slow, hackers had fun taking control of connected televisions and disrupting the operation of popular sites.
A good time for a cyberattack
This holiday heightening Russian patriotism was a perfect time to strike. Hackers have modified the list of connected television channels. Instead of the program of the festivities, users could read the message ” The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of murdered children is on your hands. Television and the authorities lie. No to war “.
Cyberattack: Russia hacked a network of satellites just before the invasion of Ukraine
This morning the online Russian TV schedule page was hacked
The name of every program was changed to “On your hands is the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and their hundreds of murdered children. TV and the authorities are lying. No to war” pic.twitter.com/P2uCNz8cqa
—Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) May 9, 2022
Televisions weren’t the only ones affected by a cyberattack. the washington post reveals that the Yandex search engine has been affected. Rutube, the Russian YouTube, too. In a post on Telegram, the site said, ” Our video hosting suffered a powerful cyberattack. At the moment it is not possible to access the platform “.
The BBC also reports that a pro-Russian website, Lente, temporarily posted several messages, ” Vladimir Putin has become a pitiful dictator and a paranoid », « War makes it easier to conceal economic failures ” and ” Zelensky turned out to be cooler than Putin “.
In the latter case, the two responsible parties are known. They are part of the site and have, it seems, taken advantage of their access to publish these messages. They are refugees abroad and expect to have to seek political asylum as a result of their action.
For connected TVs, Yandex or Rutube, no group has claimed this action yet. It could just as well be non-concerted acts, as it was well known that Vladimir Putin wanted to make this May 9 a great moment of propaganda.
Russia also suffers in cyberspace
On February 26, on Twitter, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, in charge of digital, Mykhaïlo Fedorov, announced the creation of the IT Army of Ukraine, a group bringing together the goodwill to launch DDoS attacks or reports to Russian sites, content. A group claiming to be Anonymous has taken up the cause of Ukraine. He claimed responsibility for the media attack as RT News.
If Ukraine has been the regular victim of cyberattacks since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, so has Russia. Moscow recently admitted to experiencing a large wave of hacking, which does not give the impression of abating.