Anonymous: what (and who) moves in the cyber war between Ukraine and Russia. And the Kaspersky case opens in Italy
Vladimir Putin no longer has to worry only about NATO boots on the ground. He probably already has it on the Kremlin computer. If Anonymous has decided to resist the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it cannot be ruled out that the operations of the United States and its allies are not hiding behind the guise of Guy Fawkes. Governments behind the hacktivists. “It has already happened in the past”, Corrado Giustozzi, one of the leading cybersecurity experts in Italy, explained to Tg1 a few days ago. Stefano Mele, partner and global head of the cybersecurity department of the international law firm Gianni & Origoni, details: "If you look at the history of Anonymous, you can see that behind their greatest successes, or rather behind the most striking cyber attacks, actually the operations of some states are hidden. States that have violated the security systems in peacetime, and now exploit the breaches already opened thanks to those people whom the intelligence has long since recruited ”. Anonymous has notoriously launched attacks on everyone. Including the CIA and the Vatican. It's a decentralized group, however, so its Twitter and YouTube channels aren't official vehicles. We should certainly not expect Twitter to send us a postcard signed with the name and surname of those who have embarrassed the Russian government sites or the giant Gazprom on our smartphone. There are many Twitter accounts that claim to act under the broader umbrella of the social media accounts affiliated with Anonymous. Whoever grasps the handle from time to time is a more complex matter to decrypt. Anonymous is difficult to define. Some work independently, while others work in small teams or join a swarm of protesters during a large-scale campaign. Unlike Anonymous, many hackers work in secret. Anonymous seeks publicity before and after every successful action. Already in a 2013 paper, for McGill University, Gabriella Coleman observed: "There is a paradox at work here: state-backed hacking is generally much better organized and financed and, in some respects, much more powerful than actions taken by Anonymous (which) does not have the human and financial resources to engage in the long-term strategic thinking or planning required to code military-grade software. It has neither the income nor the sponsorship to support a dedicated team charged with recruiting people, coordinating activities and developing sophisticated software. " That in a campaign against Putin the US is particularly suspected as collaborators of the hacktivists is already in itself a proof. Interestingly (AP does), like Russia which has some of the best hackers in the world, in the early days of the war in Ukraine reduced its ability to wreak havoc through malware. Instead, it is Ukraine that has organized voluntary hackers to make the Kremlin pay. And not only the collective Anonymous called them. Some have been deployed online by the SBU security service. That is, the Ukrainian secret services. "This is the first time that states have openly asked citizens and volunteers to attack another state," says Professor Coleman. Meanwhile, a group of Ukrainian and pro-Ukrainian volunteers who have more than 230,000 followers on a Telegram channel constantly lists the targets that hackers can target, such as Russian banks and cryptocurrency exchanges. "Just as civilians are coming out to fight on the street, I am not surprised that they are trying to invite civilians to support the resistance through digital space," Gary Corn, a colonel in the US Army - Cyber Command Division told AP. But it does not correspond to the accuracy that Russia is watching cyber space. Several hours before the invasion, destructive cyber attacks hit Ukraine's digital infrastructure, damaging hundreds of computers with malware, including a financial institution and organizations with offices in neighboring Latvia and Lithuania. More powerful and costly attacks costing billions of dollars had been deployed between 2015-2016. Has there been anything like this in this conflict so far? Not really. According to CheckPoint Research (CPR), attacks on the Ukrainian government and military sector increased by 196% in the first three days of fighting. While those to Russian organizations increased by 4%. Cyber warfare is bilateral. Phishing emails in the East Slavic language increased sevenfold, of which a third was directed at people of Russian nationality, sent from Ukrainian email addresses. However, CPR also warns of malicious emails with the aim of deceiving the people you want to support the Ukrainian population with donations. The international payment system Swift could soon be in the sights of the Conti group - near the Kremlin. Mele entrusted the scenario to Sole24Ore. This - he underlines - would allow "Putin to respond to the sanctions of the Western axis without exposing himself". Of course - remembers Mele interviewed by the newspaper La Verità - the Russians do not venture into cyber attacks on Ukrainian national critical infrastructures. They are already in the field and with the bombs they put them out in a more definitive way than a computer action. They have already shown this with the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. But there is also prudence. A cyber attack on Ukraine could get out of control, and also affect the infrastructures of European countries and NATO. At that point, the activation of Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty would be triggered, which would require a collective reaction, even with conventional military attacks. Obviously, everything that is happening in that region directly concerns Italy. And cybersecurity is no exception. All major IT systems of our institutions use Russian Kaspersky-branded antivirus software. Company founder Eugene Kaspersky has strong personal ties to the Putin administration. He has a degree from KGB high school on his resume, but Kaspersky has repeatedly denied any connection with the Putin administration. Vladimir made a career with the KGB. In recent days, Kaspersky has tweeted neutral: “We welcome the start of negotiations to resolve the current situation in Ukraine and hope that they will lead to a cessation of hostility and a compromise. We believe that peaceful dialogue is the only possible tool for resolving conflicts. War is not good for anyone ”. He followed his statement with another tweet: “Like the rest of the world, we are shocked by the recent events. The main thing we can do in this situation is to provide uninterrupted operation of our products and services globally ”. The company had already stated that as a provider of technology and information security services, it is unable to comment on geopolitical developments outside its area of expertise. So far it seems like marketing as usual. The point is that Kaspersky has sold its software to millions of individuals and public institutions, not just Italian ones. Putin vult, the company would take an upgrade to reduce millions of computer systems in the service of Moscow. Could US sanctions on Russia hit Kaspersky soon? • March 5, 2022
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