- A Russian bot farm sent 5,000 messages to Ukrainian military and law enforcement officials, urging them to surrender.
- The Security Service of Ukraine claimed that the bot farm aims to “shake up the moral and psychological state of the Ukrainian security forces.”
- Russia is one of the most sophisticated cyber aggressors in the world.
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Ukrainian intelligence accused Russian agents of setting up a bot farm that sent 5,000 text messages to Ukrainian military and law enforcement officials, encouraging them to defect and surrender to the Russians.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced on Facebook that the Security Service of Ukraine had managed to shut down the Russian bot farm, or “special intelligence operation” aimed at “shaking the moral and psychological state of the Ukrainian security forces.”
A message from Russian bots that reads: “Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, launch an offensive on Kyiv – before Kyiv destroys you!” Ukrainian Armed Forces
According to the Ukrainian Armed Forces Facebook post, the message read: “The outcome of events is certain!
The operation, which was quickly neutralized by the SSU, was carried out remotely by the Russians, with equipment located in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russia is one of the most sophisticated cyber aggressors in the world.
As the country beats Ukraine with its artillery and ground forces, there are concerns that it could also use cyber warfare to cripple Ukraine’s infrastructure. In the hours before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Microsoft discovered never-before-seen malware designed to wipe Ukrainian government and bank data. However, the company was able to block Code within hours, the New York Times reported.
Translations by Oleksandr Vynogradov.