Ukraine has requested a volunteer “IT army” to battle the Russian invasion on the digital frontier, and it looks that hundreds of thousands of individuals have already responded. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation, released a message on Twitter in English in the early days of the war, inviting hackers and programmers to join an “IT army” to assist carry out cyberattacks on Russia.
“We’re putting together an IT army.” We require digital experts. All operating instructions will be posted here: https://t.me/itarmyofurraine. Everyone will be given an assignment. On the cyber front, we continue to battle. “The first duty for cyber professionals is on the channel,” Fedorov tweeted on February 26. Only a few weeks later, the Wall Street Journal says that 400,000 volunteers from both inside and outside Ukraine have joined Ukraine’s volunteer cyber army, however some estimates put the figure at 300,000.
Whatever the actual amount is, Russia looks to have had the upper hand in the early stages of the cyberwar. Cyberattacks on Ukraine’s government and military sector soared by 196 percent in the first three days of battle, according to research by cybersecurity firm Central Point. Ukraine has seen a 50% reduction in cyber assaults since then, although they still look to be greater than usual. According to Central Point analysis, cyberattacks against private Russian firms climbed by 4%, but only by 0.20 percent against Ukrainian organizations. At the same time, it appears that assaults have been launched on organizations in most other parts of the world.
Both Ukraine and Russia appear to use two well-known strategies in their attacks. To begin with, hackers attempt to get access to sensitive or private data with the intent of disclosing the information and disrupting routine operations. Second, many are undertaking DDoS assaults, which involve flooding a service or network with traffic from various sources in order to overload and damage it.
So far, there have been a number of well-publicized cyberattacks on Russia, though it’s difficult to tell who’s behind them or whether they’re linked to the so-called “IT Army.” One cyberattack, allegedly carried out by Anonymous, a non-state hacker organization, involves posting video of the war on Russia’s official television and the country’s Netflix equivalent. The bombs and bullets are still as obnoxious as ever, but the widespread use of cyberattacks, cryptocurrencies, social media, and disinformation operations distinguishes this conflict from others.
Much of Ukraine’s tech-savvy approach to the battle has been attributed to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration, particularly the director of digital Fedorov, who issued the demand for an “IT army.” Fedorov publicly reached out to Elon Musk on Twitter on one occasion, requesting that his Starlink satellite firm give internet access to Ukraine. Musk was quick to respond. Fedorov tweeted a photo of a truckload of on-the-ground Starlink equipment two days later, writing, “Starlink — here.” @elonmusk, thank you.”
