Gareth Corfield
Sat, January 7, 2023
DONETSK OBLAST, UKRAINE - JAN 5: Ukrainian soldiers fire a mortar on the Vuhledar frontline in Donetsk oblast, 5 January 2023. (Photo by Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) - Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Frontline support from Silicon Valley giants has helped halve the number of Russian cyber attacks on Ukraine, new figures show.
Millions of dollars-worth of cyber security help given by Microsoft and Amazon to Kyiv has dramatically reduced the number of cyberattacks by making it harder for Moscow to mount digital offensives.
Statistics published by Ukraine’s government show that while the country suffered more than 2,100 separate cyberattacks last year, the frequency per month halved in the months following the outbreak of war.
It came as some of the world’s biggest technology companies mobilised to support Kyiv, with Microsoft and Amazon donating around $400m of digital support between them. Big Tech’s help was crucial in helping fend off the worst of the ongoing Russian cyber-assault.
Cyber attacks surged as Russian tanks rolled across its eastern borders in February 2022. Kyiv suffered nearly 290 separate assaults in that month alone, as Moscow deployed its digital weaponry alongside traditional firepower.
However by August the number had dropped to around 140 attacks per month, according to figures from Ukraine’s Computer Emergency Response Team.
A Ukrainian government source said Russia has been targeting “military but civil infrastructure” in a bid to undermine the resolve of Ukrainians.
Western governments and private companies alike have contributed hundreds of millions of dollars worth of digital support, with Amazon and Microsoft alone accounting for around £400m of backing.
Microsoft president Brad Smith said that his company’s support for Ukraine’s government amounted to $400m (£333.5m) since the invasion, adding that support during 2023 would be extended “free of charge”.
“The continued defence of Ukraine depends in part on a critical digital alliance of countries, companies and nonprofits,” he said in November.
Amazon said in December it has committed around $75m (£63m) in support to Ukraine, including providing some of its Snowball devices for copying vital computer files out of Ukrainian data centres, allowing people to move crucial information online.
Jeff Bezos’s company has also helped migrate Ukrainian government operations into its cloud, Amazon Web Services. Mikhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said in December that this support had “made one of the biggest contributions to Ukraine’s victory.”
Google has organised charitable donation efforts during 2022 totalling $45m (£37.5m), it said, along with a further $5m raised by the advertising technology company’s employees.
The company has also cracked down on Russian propaganda on Google Search as well as in YouTube videos.
Russia pioneered the tactic of deploying cyberattacks alongside real-world military aggression, first showcasing this approach in 2008 when it invaded the Georgian province of South Ossetia. Russian hackers successfully targeted digital infrastructure including computer servers belonging to news agencies and government departments in a bid to paralyse Georgia.
Before the invasion, Russia and Ukraine were both home to groups of organised cyber criminals with links to the Russian government.
Industry sources said that some online criminal gangs were co-opted into attacking Ukrainian targets selected by Russian intelligence agencies following Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
US cyber security company Mandiant, which is a Google subsidiary, published research last week detailing how Russian hackers from a criminal gang nicknamed Turla had tried to compromise the computer servers of Ukrainian businesses.
Booby-trapped USB sticks planted near the buildings of targeted Ukrainian companies were loaded with malware. Hackers hoped curious staff would plug them into computers and unintentionally unleash computer viruses saved on them.
John Hultquist, Mandiant’s vice president of threat intelligence, said: “Obviously there's the relationship between state actors and criminals in Russia to consider,” adding that Russian spy agency the FSB had “teamed up with criminals it was supposed to hunt”.
Aside from major tech companies, Western governments have also provided crucial behind-the-scenes cyber security support to Ukraine.
Whitehall has contributed around £6.5m in cyber support to Ukraine, including specialised antivirus software.
Lindy Cameron, chief executive of GCHQ agency the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said when the government revealed the donations: “The NCSC is proud to have played a part in supporting Ukraine’s cyber defenders. They have mounted an impressive defence against Russian aggression in cyberspace, just as they have done on the physical battlefield.”
The NCSC is Britain’s cyber security agency, charged with using hackers’ skills to work in defence of Britain and British interests.
The US also proffered help. As well as defensive support, US Cyber Command has carried out offensive cyber operations against Russia.
General Paul Nakasone told Sky News last summer: “We've conducted a series of operations across the full spectrum; offensive, defensive, [and] information operations.”
Ukraine recently rejected a Russian ceasefire proposal timed to coincide with the Russian Orthodox Christmas, with president Volodymyr Zelensky saying the truce was an attempt to stop his country recapturing occupied territory.
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