Ukraine invites hackers underground to protect itself against Russia. When Russian forces targeted cities across Ukraine and demanded volunteers started appearing on hacker forums Thursday morning, just as people fled the city of Kyiv.
Government of Ukraine is seeking volunteers from Ukraine’s hacker underground to protect vital infrastructure and conduct cyber-spying missions against Russian troops, according to two people who are involved in the program.
As Russian forces struck cities across Ukraine the country, calls for volunteers started appearing on hacker forums Thursday morning. Many residents fled from the capital Kyiv.
“Ukrainian cybercommunity! It’s time to participate in the defense of cyberspace for our nation,” the post read it, asking cybersecurity and hackers experts to apply via Google documents, describing their expertise, like malware developmentand references.
Yegor Aushev co-founder of Cyber Unit Technologies, Cyber Unit Technologies, a cybersecurity firm in Kyiv and Kyiv, told Reuters that he wrote the blog post upon the request from a senior Defense Ministry official who contacted him on Thursday. Aushev’s company Cyber Unit Technologies is known for its collaboration with Ukraine’s government in the protection of the critical infrastructure.
An individual who is personally involved in this project has confirmed the fact that this request was received directly from the Defense Ministry on Thursday morning.
Ukraine Defense Ministry representatives did not respond to requests for comments. An official from Ukraine’s defense attache Embassy in Washington said that he “cannot confirm or deny any information that came from Telegram channels” in reference to the messaging service for mobile phones and declined to comment further.
Aushev stated that his volunteers will be split into offensive and defensive cyber units. The defensive unit will be used to protect the infrastructure like water systems and power plants. In a cyberattack in 2015 widely blamed on Russia state hackers 225,000 Ukrainians were without electricity.
The offensive unit of volunteers Aushev announced that it is forming will assist Ukraine’s military in conducting cyber-espionage against the Russian forces. Russian forces.
“We are surrounded by an army in this country.” Aushev stated. “We have to be aware of what they’re doing.”
The incident occurred on Wednesday. recently discovered piece of malware was discovered throughout Ukraine and affecting many computers as per ESET researchers. ESET. More information Russia as it has frequently been accused of hacking Ukraine as well as other nations. The victims were the government and an institution that deals in financial transactions, Reuters previously reported.
Russia has denied all the allegations.
The plan to create an cyber-military force is a bit late to the party, Aushev acknowledged.
The Ukrainian security official stated earlier in the month the nation has no military cyberforce as The Washington Post reported. “It’s our responsibility to establish the cyber forces in the coming calendar year,” the official told Washington Post.
As of late Thursday night, Ukraine, Aushev said he already had hundreds of applications and was about to begin screening them to ensure that none of the applicants are Russian agents.