Russia and Ukraine: the conflict would have started much earlier in the digital field

The crisis between Russia and Ukraine continues to climb. Vladimir Putin’s government on Monday recognized the independence of two pro-Russian breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine, the “republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk, and paved the legal way to send troops to the area. Although the world is awaiting the mobilization of soldiers, the conflict between the two nations would have started much earlier in the digital field.

YOU CAN SEE: Latest news of the crisis between Ukraine and Russia

A succession of cyberattacks were carried out weeks ago against the main websites of Ukraine’s official bodies and two of its largest banks. Although Russia has categorically denied its participation in these assaults, statements by Ukrainian officials pointed out that, due to the objective of these attacks, their relationship with the Kremlin is notorious.

What was the main purpose of these digital incursions? “The objective has been to destabilize and create a certain chaos in the daily lives of Ukrainians”was what he mentioned Mykhailo FedorovMinister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, specifying that no financial motivations were found.

Likewise, he pointed out that although they cannot confirm the Russian authorship behind these insults, their objective could only be beneficial for the Kremlin, due to their characteristics. Despite the Russian denial, the United States thinks exactly the same as Ukraine.

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“A practice that is already known to the Russians”

Asked about these cyberattacks, the international analyst Carlos Novoa maintains: “Always at the forefront of technology and with what is probably the most powerful army in the world today, it is a practice that the Russians are already familiar with.”

“We have seen it with cyber attacks and hackers. One of its most emblematic antecedents was the participation of Russian cyberattackers during the United States presidential elections in which Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton. This is a sustained policy of Russia that is always on the lookout for the cyber”detailed Novoa in dialogue with Trade.

January

Large-scale attacks began in mid-January. Microsoft reported that a large-scale raid was under way in Ukraine, with some 70 government websites being affected in the process. The digital assault was carried out using malware called WhisperGate, which appeared to be ransomware but turned out to be less sophisticated than expected. As the technology firm pointed out, this system did not have a mechanism to release the compromised information, so its sole objective was to disable technological equipment and destroy the data contained in storage devices. Ukrainian authorities reported that they were able to recover from the attack a few hours after it happened.

Novoa explains that cyber offensive deployments play a fundamental role in this type of conflict. (Photo: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters)

February

The next massive cyberattack occurred on February 17, when a DDoS attack (distributed denial of service attack, for its acronym in English) was recorded on Ukrainian territory. The scope of this event extended to public bodies related to diplomacy and the Armed Forces, such as the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and the website of the Ukrainian army, respectively. The objective of this type of attack was to overload the servers with a huge number of access requests to render the affected platforms unusable or null.

In addition, the cyberattackers managed to send text messages to the cell phones of the clients of the two main banks of Ukraine that indicated that their ATMs were inoperative, something totally false. The purpose was to generate even more chaos through disinformation since, as the Ukrainian Police pointed out, none of these messages were aimed at stealing users’ digital assets.

Whether through Malware or DDoS attacks, the objective of cyberattacks was none other than to generate chaos and disable platforms and equipment. (Photo: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg) (Chris Ratcliffe/)

A step forward

Carlos Novoa explains that, in this type of conflict, the strategies that are developed in the digital sphere have gained prominence and, as these facts mentioned above show, can be decisive in taking an advantage over the adversary.

“Cyber ​​attacks handled by the intelligence services of world powers such as Russia and the United States exert considerable pressure and end up linked to the armed conflict. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is no exception.added the analyst.

Despite the fact that Russia has denied its participation in these attacks, its history in past affairs has set off alarms in Ukraine and the United States. (Photo: Getty Images)

Barrage of sanctions

For US President Joe Biden, Putin’s latest decisions mean “the beginning of an invasion”, but he stated that “the worst can still be avoided”.

On Tuesday, Western countries approved sanctions after recognizing the independence of the separatists. The conflict between these groups and the Ukrainian authorities in the east of the country has lasted eight years and has left more than 14,000 dead.

The most forceful measure was the announcement that Germany decided to suspend the authorization of the gigantic Nord Stream II gas pipeline, which will transport Russian gas to the European country.

The United States also reacted with a “first round” of sanctions that seek to prevent Moscow from obtaining Western funds to repay its debt. There were also announcements of financial lockdowns from the European Union, Japan, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom.

These measures are mainly directed against Russian banks and some deputies. For now, they are cautious and lower sanctions than those announced in case of invasion.

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Source: Elcomercio