Russian hackers bombarded Ukraine in 2022, Google says

MUNICH – Russian state-sponsored hackers have inundated Ukrainian targets with a “near-constant digital attack” in the year since the invasion, Google said in a new report.

In a report released on Thursday ahead of the Munich Security Conference, Google’s Threat Analysis Group (TAG) said that Russian government-backed attackers increased their attempted hacks on Ukrainian users in 2022 by 250 per cent compared with 2020.

The company used 2020 as a baseline because there was an increase in attacks in the run-up to the war. 

Ukraine’s ministries of Defence, Foreign Affairs and the National Agency for Service were among the top targets in 2022, said Google. 

The United States and Britain previously

blamed Russia for a cyber attack on a satellite network

that resulted in communication blackouts for parts of Ukraine prior to the war.

Ukrainian officials also said that

malicious cyber activity

represents one aspect of hybrid warfare that is intended to destabilise Ukraine. 

Hackers also have increased their focus on members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, particularly Poland, Germany and the Baltic states, said Google.

In 2023, Google added, it expects Moscow to step up attacks not only on Ukraine, but also on Nato partners. 

“It is clear cyber will continue to play an integral role in future armed conflict, supplementing traditional forms of warfare,” researchers from Google’s TAG group said in the report.  

Attacks against Ukraine’s cyber infrastructure have not just originated from Russia, Google reported.

Highlighting “Curious George”, a group that the Threat Analysis Group attributes to the Chinese military, Google said there has been a shift in focus from Russian and Mongolian toward Ukrainian government organisations. Bloomberg