The war in Ukraine is also taking place in the virtual world of the Web. Cyberattacks are being carried out on both sides, and groups of hackers have mobilized in a movement on an unprecedented scale. But these attacks have not yet had a decisive influence on the course of the war, experts note, and the Russian impact remains discreet.
In the early days of the Russian invasion, Ukrainian banking and government sites were hit by Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, which render websites unavailable. Ukrainian organizations have also been affected by malware of the type “ wiper which destroy data in infected systems. The civil satellite Internet network, operated by the American Viasat and covering northern Europe, was cut off due to a cyberattack.
Despite these outbursts, “for the moment, what we see is that there is not much that seems to have had a real effect on the ground and on the course of the conflict” , notes Alexis Rapin, researcher in residence at the Multidimensional Conflict Observatory of the Raoul-Dandurand Chair at UQAM. However, he adds that it is difficult to have information on all the cyberattacks that have taken place and their effects.
“Cyberattacks play a minor role in this armed conflict,” adds Lukasz Olejnik, independent cybersecurity researcher and consultant, formerly cyberwar adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.
“So far, we have not seen any significant events. Unless everything is silent or stealthy, it seems that cyberattacks are not employed in any meaningful way. »
However, Russia has the means to do more, thinks Alexis Rapin. “The Russians were expected to carry out attacks against Ukrainian infrastructure. Not so much to disrupt the Ukrainian war machine, but rather to discourage the population, he says. I’m not very impressed with what the Russians have deployed so far. Ukraine’s connectivity remains very good. »
There would not have been widespread power outages or cyberattacks on critical infrastructure, as has happened in the past. In December 2015, Ukraine was notably the victim of a computer attack which plunged the west of the country into darkness for several hours.
information warfare
The attacks are mainly focused on espionage and disinformation, experts note. “We are mainly in the information war at the moment, underlines Frédéric Cuppens, professor specializing in cybersecurity at Polytechnique Montréal. We are in the manipulation of populations with the objective of both sides to rally public opinion in his camp. It’s a form of cyber warfare, he says.
On February 26, Ukraine decided to launch an unprecedented mass appeal to recruit volunteers from around the world and invite them to join a “technology army”. Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted a link to a group on the Telegram instant messaging application. Nearly 310,000 people had joined as of March 10, and “operational tasks” are distributed in the channel.
The targets are in Russia and Belarus and concern official sites, electrical and telecom networks, banking sites and Russian public companies. Some sites have been modified to display messages of support for Ukraine. “We have interrupted the operation of the web portal of Russian public services, the Stock Exchange, the websites of the Tass agency, Kommersant, fontanka and other leading media in Russia,” Fedorov claimed in an interview with the BBC a few days ago.
Several groups of computer hackers are mobilized in parallel, including the famous group Anonymous, which has multiplied the blows. “It’s unprecedented,” said Alexis Rapin, speaking of the degree of mobilization online. It was something that had already been seen during the war in Georgia in 2008. “But it was on a much smaller scale than what we see now, underlines the expert. There are groups, both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian. We have a fairly significant quantitative leap. »
Many report their exploits on social networks, but it is difficult to measure the effects, warn the experts. And some claimed attacks are impossible to verify, underlines Lukasz Olejnik, who urges caution. “I wouldn’t believe everything,” he sums up.
The effects of cyber conflict are being felt in Canada. A group of pro-Russian hackers, behind the Conti ransomware, claimed responsibility for a computer attack on Aluminerie Alouette, in Sept-Îles, which occurred two weeks ago and coincided with the start of the war. Stolen company data was reportedly posted on the group’s website on Wednesday, Radio-Canada reported and theMontreal Journal.
Are we prepared for cyberattacks at home? “We are never 100% ready,” emphasizes Frédéric Cuppens. But there is still a way to raise the level of security. Most countries have to put it in place. »
According to the expert, it is to be expected that the information war will continue, and fake news could abound. He also fears an escalation in cyberattacks.
For his part, Alexis Rapin wonders “what cyber could do more than what we already see”. “That is to say, for the Russians, ultimately, everything indicates that the objective of this conflict is to occupy ground in Ukraine, and that cannot be done with cyberattacks,” he said. . Maybe, at the moment, it’s a tool that isn’t that useful once a war is started. But I say that today, and that could change. »