Cyberwar: Who wins?

Russia is attacking Ukraine not only at the frontline. Russian invasion is not only about the "meat assaults" of Shoigu's subordinates. It is also about the record number of cyberattacks on Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. The energy sector, critical infrastructure, and government systems are in the crosshairs. Moreover, the Russians are preparing for the heating season not only by stockpiling missiles.

Are most of these attacks successful? No. Right now, Ukraine’s Security Service (SSU) cyber specialists are winning the war against Russian hackers. And this is despite the fact that the Russian special services have withdrawn their hackers from most areas and focused on working against Ukraine. So when you read the definition of Ukraine as a global cyber shield, it is not an exaggeration.

Over just 10 months of this year, the SSU has neutralized almost 4,000 cyberattacks from Russia. The important thing is that cyberattacks are happening every day, but ordinary citizens do not notice it. This, in my opinion, is the most important indicator of our experts' efficiency.

Another Russian weapon is bots and bot farms. I think each of us has encountered them. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion by Russia, the SSU has already blocked 76 bot farms with a total capacity of more than 3 million accounts! And the Russians are obviously going to increase their capacity. According to IIlia Vitiuk, head of the SSU's cyber department, a number of Russian educational institutions are already teaching the subject of "cyber attacks on civilian infrastructure" and want to increase the scale of attacks and the number of people who can do it professionally.

In such circumstances, it is important that the SSU is preparing for this challenge.

The world has been suffering from Russian hackers for a long time. The list of victims is long - from the Italian prime minister to the banking system of some EU countries. And the fact that Ukrainians do not experience these cyberattacks, despite all the efforts of the Russians, is a significant achievement in this cyberwar.

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About the author. Oleksiy Holobutskyi, political scientist.

The editors do not always share the opinions expressed by the blog authors.