The 2017 NotPetya ransomware attacks, which targeted Ukraine but spread globallyĪnd a 2022 attempt to cause a power blackout in Ukraine.Īt the other end of the spectrum, Russian information operations regularly use armies of bots and trolls, as well as unsuspecting “ citizen curators”, to spread false narratives.ĭoing so is cheap and increases the distance between the attacker and its agents, allowing for plausible deniability. One or more of these groups have been responsible for a series of prominent cyber attacks on a range of targets, including:

Another group, Cozy Bear, is associated with the FSB. The GRU’s groups include Sandworm and Fancy Bear. On one end of the spectrum, it uses groups attached to official agencies, such as the GRU (military intelligence) and the FSB (ostensibly domestic intelligence, but also carries out missions overseas). Russia utilises a range of methods to wage war in cyberspace. Naturally, the Kremlin’s just-released 2023 Foreign Policy Concept identifies the United States as the “main source of threats” to Russian security.īut Ukraine, every NATO and European Union member, and several other states are identified as “ unfriendly countries”, including Australia, Japan, Singapore and New Zealand. That list of enemies is a long one, and has grown since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

This includes the sowing of mistrust via social media, the gathering of kompromat (compromising material), and the ability to target crucial infrastructure. The leak also corroborates the view of many strategists: that the Russian government regards offensive cyber capabilities as part of a holistic effort to degrade its enemies. They purport to reveal details about hacking tools to seize control of vulnerable servers domestic and international disinformation campaigns and ways to digitally monitor potential threats to the regime.Īlthough caution is always necessary before accepting claims about cyber capabilities, it’s noteworthy several Western intelligence agencies have confirmed the documents appear genuine. More than 5,000 documents have been leaked by an anonymous whistleblower, angry at Russia’s conduct in the war in Ukraine. Recent revelations about the close partnership between the Kremlin and NTC Vulkan, a Russian cybersecurity consultancy with links to the military, provide some rare insights into how the Putin regime weaponises cyberspace.

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