An army of volunteer hackers is rising up to defend Ukraine, although Internet specialists are calling on geeks and other “hacktivists” to stay out of a potentially dangerous computer war.
Livia Tibirna, an analyst at cybersecurity firm Sekoia, said that nearly 260,000 people have joined the “IT Army” of volunteer hackers, which was set up at the initiative of Ukrainian First Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov.
The group, which can be accessed through the encrypted messaging service Telegram, has a list of potential targets in Russia, companies and institutions, for the hackers to target.
Photo: AFP
It is difficult to judge the effect the cyberarmy is having.
The actions reported so far seem to be limited to “denial of service” attacks, where multiple requests are sent to a Web site in a coordinated manner to saturate it and bring it down.
Defacement actions, in which the targeted site displays a hacked page, have also been briefly observed on Russian sites.
The cyberarmy could also ask hackers to try to identify vulnerabilities of certain Russian sites, and send that info to more seasoned specialists capable of carrying out more sophisticated intrusive actions, such as data theft or destruction, Hackers Without Borders cofounder Clement Domingo said.
He and other specialists consulted warned the hackers against participating in the activities of the IT Army, or other cybermavericks such as Anonymous.
“I strongly advise against joining these actions,” said Damien Bancal, who is well-versed in the opaque world of cybercrime.
“There are plenty of other ways to help Ukrainians who are suffering,” if only by relaying the testimonies that are flourishing on social networks, he added.
For SwitHak, a cybersecurity researcher, the maverick hackers are taking “too much risk.”
“There are legal risks, for example,” he said, adding that attempting to attack a Web site, or penetrate a server or network is “computer crime.”
For Domingo there is also risk of “hack back,” a destructive counterattack by Russian operatives.
He said he is particularly appalled to see that a number of candidate hackers have not taken the trouble to create a special Telegram account to participate in the IT Army, at the risk of being identified by the Russian side.
In cyberspace, and in particular on forums and other discussion groups on Telegram or Discord, “you don’t know who’s who,” said Felix Aime, another researcher at Sekoia.
Inexperienced hackers can find themselves caught up with infiltrators from the opposite camp, and end up working for the opponent they wanted to fight, he said.
Between the experienced hackers, who carry out ransomware attacks, the fight is on.
A pro-Ukrainian member of the Conti ransomware group, which declared its support for Russia, published more than a year’s worth of its internal communications in retaliation, offering a treasure trove of information to the world’s cybersecurity researchers, police and spy specialists.
The forums where cybercriminals meet “try to stay away from any debate” on the Russian-Ukrainian war to avoid attracting the attention of state services, Tibirna said.
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