Officials in Ukraine said they concluded a week-long attack intended to hinder the financial system in Russia.
Multiple reports out of Kyiv cite government sources in claiming that earlier this week Ukranian-backed hackers concluded the one-week effort to disrupt Russia’s financial networks and hamper its ongoing effort to invade and effectively absorb Ukraine as a vassal state.
The attacks are believed to have been a long-term sustained distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack in which Ukrainian-controlled systems flooded Russian banks and financial networks with junk traffic requests.
The attack reportedly was at least effective enough to take down ATM networks in Russia, though Ukranian officials also said that telecommunications and Moscow’s government services were also impacted.
“We can now exhale and confirm the completion of the operation. Thank you to everyone who participated, helped, and supported. Of course, this is just a prelude to even more interesting events,” an intelligence official told the Kyiv Post.
“We advise the Russians to start digging a grave for their digital infrastructure.”
The official suggested that the attacks could push the Kremlin into isolating its local infrastructure from the internet, preventing access from the world wide web.
The attacks mark an escalation in the cyberwarfare component of the larger war between Russia and Ukraine.
While some cyberwarfare components have been active since the beginning of the Kremlin’s invasion campaign, those efforts were largely intended to either disrupt communications in a limited local area or disinformation efforts aimed at swaying public and international opinion.
The operation and disruption of drone craft, arguably their own form of cyberwarfare, have become a critical component of the physical aspect of the war like military personnel and vital infrastructure.
The attacks also come as much of the security world is set to converge on Las Vegas for the trio of annual conferences known as "Hacker Summer Camp" — B-Sides, Black Hat, and Def Con (SCMedia will be providing on-site coverage from all three conferences.)
The subject of cyberwarfare and its evolution have been a constant topic of discussion on the show floor in recent years, and with the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and tensions remaining high in the Middle East, attendees and speakers alike will no doubt be eager to speculate on how cyberwarfare will continue to evolve, particularly as the US and other western countries become more involved in emerging global conflicts.
