Ukraine has been more deliberate in recruiting a volunteer hacker squad. In the Telegram channels, participants welcomed their cooperation with the government in pursuing goals such as Sberbank, Russia’s state-owned bank. From Russia, where links between the government and hacker groups have long been a source of concern among Western officials, there have not been the same kind of overt calls for action.
“We are creating an IT army,” tweeted Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mikhail Fedorov, directing cybersecurity enthusiasts to a channel in the Telegram, which contains instructions for shutting down Russian websites offline. “There will be tasks for everyone.” As of Friday, the Telegram channel had more than 285,000 subscribers.
Inside the Telegram’s main English-language page for the Ukrainian Army, there is a 14-page introductory document that provides details on how people can participate, including what software to download to disguise their whereabouts and identities. New targets are listed every day, including websites, telecommunications companies, banks and ATMs.
Yegor Aushev, co-founder of the Ukrainian cybersecurity company Cyber Unit Technologies, said he was flooded with notes after posting a call on social media for programmers to get involved. The company offered him a $ 100,000 reward for those who identify flaws in the code of Russian cyber targets.
Mr Aushev said more than 1,000 people working closely with the government had taken part in his efforts. People were only allowed to join if someone guaranteed it for them. Organized in small groups, they sought to hit high-impact targets such as infrastructure and logistics systems important to the Russian military.
“It has become an independent machine, a distributed international digital army,” Mr Aushev said. “The biggest hacks against Russia will be soon,” he added, without elaborating.
Updated
March 4, 2022, 8:03 pm ET
A government spokesman confirmed work with Mr Aushev.
It is always difficult to understand who is behind the cyber attack. The groups falsely take credit or boast more impact than has actually happened. But this week there have been a series of attacks on Russian targets. The country’s largest state-controlled stock exchange, the bank and Russia’s foreign ministry, have been shut down for some time after being attacked by Ukrainian volunteer hackers.