Russia may have moved troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, but its cyberwar against Ukraine began eight years earlier. Long before Putin’s full-scale invasion, Russian hackers began targeting Ukrainian infrastructure and government institutions.
Because the cyberwar is an important but hidden element of this campaign, we’ve gathered as much data as we can to update you on this side of the conflict. We’ll cover significant cyberattacks, cyber’s role in the current conflict, and steps you can take to stay safe. We’ll also update this article as the situation in Ukraine develops so those affected know what’s happening with their data.
The buildup to the cyberwar in Ukraine
Since Putin first came to power in 2000, Russian diplomatic relations with former Soviet republics have been marked by Russian aggression and disinformation. He has described the dissolution of the Soviet Union as “the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century,” and talks openly about rebuilding the Soviet Union.
This began in 1999 with the Second Chechen War, before Putin was even formally elected President of Russia. In that campaign, in a way that foreshadows what’s happening in Ukraine, Putin declared the Chechen President’s authority illegitimate and, in a series of increasingly aggressive moves that belied his stated intentions, took control of the country, which is now part of Russia.
Putin used similar tactics of disinformation and cyber warfare in Russia’s 2014 campaign against the Crimea, a formerly Ukrainian territory located along the northern coast of the Black Sea. In the Russian annexation of Crimea, Putin dissolved Crimean press, used state sponsored media as well as social media to spread lies about fascism in Ukraine, and used troops disguised as separatists to overtake the Crimean parliament. When Russia formally moved troops into Crimea, its stated intention was to protect Russians and “normalise” the situation.
Following the 2014 annexation of Crimea, brutal and bloody conflict has raged in eastern Ukraine between Russian-backed separatist forces and the Ukrainian military. At the same time, Russian cyberattacks against Ukraine have escalated, focusing on Ukrainian hospitals, energy systems, government institutions, and websites. This is all in an apparent effort to destabilise Ukrainian politics, aid the spread of disinformation, and affect the Ukrainian military.
Ukraine has responded with cyberattacks of its own, targeting Russian military forces, disinformation campaigns, and intelligence agencies. However, the economic disparity between the two nations puts Ukraine at a disadvantage.
Cyberwarfare between the two nations further escalated in late February, 2022, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Following the same playbook Russia used in Chechnya and Crimea, Russian hackers and news outlets are spreading disinformation to build a pro-Russian justification for the invasion. Putin has falsely claimed that Ukraine is a fascist government committing genocide on its own people. And his disinformation campaign is extremely effective in Russia. Reports have even emerged of Russian citizens refusing to believe images that show Russian aggression in Ukraine. Russian cyber tactics are also designed to disrupt Ukrainian defensive efforts, communication channels, and civilian infrastructure.
The full report can be read here.
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Media contact
Rebecca Morpeth Spayne,
Editor, Security Portfolio
Tel: +44 (0) 1622 823 922
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