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The war between Russia and Ukraine is fought on two battlefields—in the physical and cyber territories.
Russia has long conducted cyber attacks against Ukraine, making it the country’s testing ground for its tactics. But since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Ukrainian officials have observed that the cyber attacks have also increased significantly.
Yurii Shchyhol, Head of Derzhspetszviazok, Ukraine’s counterpart to the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, claims that the country is in a full-scale war in the cyber territory. He states, “This is the first time in history that we’ve had such a full-fledged cyberwar happening in Ukraine.”
Just days after the war started, Russia launched a cyberattack intending to disrupt over 20 Ukrainian government-linked websites. The design of the attack was successful in that it affected around 90 websites in the country, causing significant disruption in the process.
According to Shchyhol, “the goal of the Russian hackers was to sow panic among the Ukrainian population and to demonstrate to the outside world that Ukraine is a weak state that couldn’t handle the attacks.”
Russian cybercriminals orchestrated their efforts alongside Russian soldiers as they launched their invasion. They targeted physical territories, communication nodes, media and railway systems.
However, the attacks were unsuccessful. Lindy Cameron, CEO of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said, “try as they might, Russian cyberattacks simply have not had the intended impact.”
According to an interview with Shchyhol, the country prepared for cyberattacks targeting Ukrainian civilians. Their preparations proved capable of withstanding these attacks, developing technical capabilities to build redundancy.
Ukraine demonstrated its strong front in its cyber security. “This activity has provided us with the clearest demonstration that a strong and effective cyber defence can be mounted, even against an adversary as well prepared and resources as the Russian Federation”, Cameron adds.
The critical learning point on cyberwar is the commitment to long-term resilience, understanding that one needs to develop defences capable of resisting most threats.
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