Microsoft had warned the Ukrainian authorities of a massive cyber attack in the hours preceding the land invasion: the cyberattacks continue. A few hours before Ukraine suffered the first Russian attacks on the ground, when only the US warned of the imminent danger (based on data from satellites and secret services), Russia was preparing the field by exploiting a massive cyberattack. To rattle off the details of what happened is the President of Microsoft, Brad Smith. A few hours before the launch of the first missile, explains Smith, the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) had reported to Ukrainian institutions that an intense Russian offensive against Ukrainian digital infrastructures was underway: within three hours of identification, the measures were ready on the Defender service and the country under attack had prepared what was necessary both to calm the attack and to prepare for the invasion. In short, everything was as expected: a cyberattack to prepare the ground, then the advance and the hope of being able to walk in a disoriented and taken aback country. But this was not the case and the first to be surprised were the front row soldiers who opened the offensive. Cyberwar in Ukraine: how it all started Microsoft explains that, unlike the vast and indiscriminate attacks against Ukraine in the past years, in this case it was a targeted and advanced way of proceeding, something well prepared over time and aimed at obtaining specific short-term objectives. . It was not just any attack, in short, but it was the kind of attack that the army expected as a signal of the beginning of military escalation. The attacks are continuing even now, but now they have a different horizon: according to the Redmond group, today the Russians are trying to steal personal information relating to the population, probably to try to discredit the work of the institutions in the eyes of the citizens and thus undermine that confidence which has made Ukrainian resistance against the enemy so strong. In its note, Microsoft confirmed that it is on Ukraine's side in fighting both cyberattacks and stopping disinformation. Particular measures have been taken on Bing against RT and Sputnik (the same media banned by European nations) and particular assistance projects have been launched against the Ukrainian employees of the company who are fighting on the ground against the Russian invader.
Microsoft: the cyberattack first, the missiles immediately after