According to Reutersmany Ukrainian sites have recently been affected by a large-scale cyberattack. Several government sites such as that of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Defense, Interior or even that of the Ukrainian security services, are among the victims of this new wave.
Russia seeks to weaken “the ruling junta in Kiev”
While the Ukrainian Parliament has just introduced a state of emergency in the face of the Russian threat and Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of Russian armed forces in eastern Ukraine, a large-scale cyberattack has once again destabilized the country. Several journalists report that “attacks are carried out with high-precision weapons with the aim of destroying the military infrastructure of Ukraine, its defense systems, military airfields and the aviation of the Ukrainian army”. For the second time in a matter of weeks, Russia is seeking to weaken the Ukrainian government targeting many government sites.
Cybersecurity: the European Union will help Ukraine against Russia
In January, the websites of the government cabinet, security and defense councils and the ministry of education were already among the victims of a first wave of cyberattacks. Although Russia has not officially claimed responsibility for these various operations, the Ukrainians and Westerners have no doubts about the origin of the hackers and claim that Russia has already declared cyberwar on Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities also said they had detected warning signs of potential cyberattacks against Ukrainian security agencies, banks and the defense sector.
A cyberattack to destabilize Ukrainian forces
This is a DDoS attack. This technique consists of “massively request a server, for example by sending robots to it, in order to saturate it and cause a malfunction”. This leads to a saturation of computer systems, which crashes affected websites and prevents Ukrainian users from accessing affected services. While Russian troops have begun their military maneuvers, these cyberattacks are helping to further destabilize the Ukrainian government. Experts say they “paralyze the system for a few hours, but rarely more than a few days”.
Ukraine has prepared to face this kind of attack. In addition, six European countries have sent experts to support the government in its fight against potential cyberattacks. Since the speech of the Russian president, saying that he no longer recognizes the peace agreements with Ukraine, the country expects everything. On the night of February 23-24, 2022, Kiev was targeted by missiles. According to journalists on site, the first explosions were heard at 5 a.m., a few minutes after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine.