PARIS: According to Google, Russian cyberattacks on NATO nations increased in 2018 compared to 2020, and they more than tripled in Ukraine during the same time.
According to a new research from the US tech giant, the increase in attacks, which occurred around the same time as Moscow’s invasion of pro-Western Ukraine on February 24, 2022, was an indication of how common cyber warfare would become in future conflicts.
According to the research, “Russia expanded targeting of users in Ukraine by 250 percent in 2022 compared to 2020.”
“During the same period, targeting of users in NATO countries surged by nearly 300 percent.”
According to the research, in the years leading up to the invasion, assailants supported by the Russian government intensified their cyber activities.
The attacks peaked around the beginning of the invasion, and there were “more harmful cyberattacks in Ukraine during the first four months of 2022 than in the preceding eight years,” according to the report’s authors.
Moreover, the study stated that actors supported by the Russian military had “used damaging malware to disrupt and damage Ukraine’s government and military capacities.”
They engaged in everything from website hijacking to intelligence gathering and information operations to alter public opinion, including in favour of the Russian mercenary outfit Wagner, as part of their cyber onslaught, which included users from NATO.
Furthermore, Google has stated that “it is clearly obvious that cyber will play a vital role in future armed conflict, supplementing traditional means of combat.”
The cyberattacks have involved a large number of new players.
The attackers supported by the Chinese government turned their attention to targets in Ukraine and Western Europe to learn more about the conflict, according to the investigation.
War has divided the allegiances of financially motivated assailants as well.
However, According to the report, “the ecology of cybercriminals has been disrupted with some groups proclaiming political allegiances, others dividing along geopolitical lines, and prominent operators closing down.”