Category: Information Warfare

The Killnet Group hacked the Italian Cyber Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT), the cyber security arm of Italy’s law enforcement. 

The Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) of Italy has issued a warning to public and private sector organizations about the increased danger of cyber assaults. The CSIRT Italy traced the 11-21 May 2022 cyber strikes against Italian organizations to the hackers in the issue. 

According to the information presented, the pro-Russian Killnet gang may be the hackers suspected to be targeting the nation. CSIRT Italy has provided recommendations to any organizations susceptible to cyber assaults from Killnet. The organization is notorious for making misleading claims regarding its alleged achievements. Most recently, it claimed to have obtained an authentic duplicate of Jens Stoltenberg’s passport, the secretary-general of NATO. 

Source: https://www.itpro.co.uk/security/cyber-warfare/367859/russian-killnet-cyber-attacks-begin-on-italian-linked-businesses  

How open-source intelligence is transforming the character of conventional warfare 

The panopticon of information technology is altering the collection and use of intelligence in conventional warfare. What was formerly prohibitively expensive for many is now accessible to various entities, including North Korea, the CIA, journalists, terrorists, and cybercriminals. A former U.S. intelligence officer claims that missing information might warn an adversary espionage outfit. In addition to preventing governments and the military from understanding themselves, excessive secrecy may lead to strategic errors. To fight Russian disinformation or share classified material with Ukrainian colleagues, the Biden administration declassified intelligence unprecedentedly. 

Attributing results in Ukraine to open sources might sometimes serve as a cover for more strictly guarded sources and techniques. This tendency is referred to as “radical war” by British researcher Matthew Ford, coauthor of a forthcoming book on the influence of information infrastructure and linked gadgets on military engagements. According to Ford, the Russian invasion of Ukraine was not just the first conventional war in Europe in the 21st century but also the “most technologically linked in history.” The goal of Ukrainian troops is to locate, repair, and eliminate Russian units faster than the Russians can. In the information era, erroneous assessments of the anticipated equilibrium between solid and weak nations, coupled with strategic surprise, may be commonplace. 

The use of open-source platforms and consumer devices by civilian noncombatants in support of hostile military activities raises fundamental problems regarding the blurring of the distinctions between civilian and combatant: This may result in the same persons being legal targets or having convicted for espionage following the rules of war. U.S. intelligence’s precise role and effect in Ukraine will be the subject of research and controversy for decades.  Source: https://www.wired.com/story/open-source-intelligence-war-russia-ukraine/

The Prosecutor General’s Office had ordered that Google delete this information, as well as films, from Alexey Navalny’s official YouTube channel and the Ukrainian non-governmental group Free Idel-Ural. 

A Moscow district court ruled on Thursday that Google must pay a fine of 7.2 million rubles ($86,394) for distributing content that is illegal in Russia. Judge Timur Vakhrameev’s verdict found Google guilty of violating Article 13.41 of Russia’s Administrative Code, which punishes failure to erase material considered unlawful by Russian Federation laws. Videos of the Azov regiment and the so-called Right Sector volunteer Ukrainian corps are among the items in question. The films, according to the court’s ruling, advocate for “terrorist assaults and destruction against Russian Federation territory.” The Prosecutor General’s Office had ordered that Google delete this information, as well as films, from Alexey Navalny’s official YouTube channel and the Ukrainian non-governmental group Free Idel-Ural. Google, on the other hand, ignored the directives. 

Source: https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/04/russian-court-fines-google-for-promoting-banned-ukrainian-content/ 

The Prosecutor General’s Office had ordered that Google delete this information, as well as films, from Alexey Navalny’s official YouTube channel and the Ukrainian non-governmental group Free Idel-Ural. 

A Moscow district court ruled on Thursday that Google must pay a fine of 7.2 million rubles ($86,394) for distributing content that is illegal in Russia. Judge Timur Vakhrameev’s verdict found Google guilty of violating Article 13.41 of Russia’s Administrative Code, which punishes failure to erase material considered unlawful by Russian Federation laws. Videos of the Azov regiment and the so-called Right Sector volunteer Ukrainian corps are among the items in question. The films, according to the court’s ruling, advocate for “terrorist assaults and destruction against Russian Federation territory.” The Prosecutor General’s Office had ordered that Google delete this information, as well as films, from Alexey Navalny’s official YouTube channel and the Ukrainian non-governmental group Free Idel-Ural. Google, on the other hand, ignored the directives. 

Source: https://www.jurist.org/news/2022/04/russian-court-fines-google-for-promoting-banned-ukrainian-content/ 

The new data exposes Russian government officials and military members to public scrutiny. 

Since the Russian military stepped into Ukraine in February, massive volumes of information concerning the Russian state have been made public. The data is broadly classified into two types: deliberately disclosed by Ukrainian officials or their friends and that which hackers acquire. One data file purportedly includes the personal information of 1,600 Russian soldiers stationed in Bucha, a destroyed Ukrainian city during Russia’s conflict: This looks to be one of the first instances of a government doxing thousands of military people in one fell swoop. Countries have retained or attempted to establish lists of their adversaries throughout history. 

However, they were often associated with counterinsurgency operations and were generally not made public. Publishing people’s identities and personal information during a conflict is an ethical minefield. Researchers are already scrambling to collect and store thousands of TikTok videos, Telegram communications, and social media postings in evidence-worthy forms: The lists may serve as a starting point for investigators investigating possible war crimes in Ukraine. Each piece of information may function as a bit of component of a much greater jigsaw. 

U.S. and UK intelligence agencies have been attempting to sabotage Vladimir Putin’s attempts by declassifying material. Ukraine has recruited a volunteer information technology army that has targeted Russian websites and businesses, intending to bring their services down. This effort resulted in publishing massive amounts of data about Russian-connected companies and government entities. Anonymous vowed a “cyberwar” against the Russian government. “We’ve never seen this much data coming out of Russia,” says Joel Best, co-founder of DDoSecrets. 

Source: https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ukraine-data/