Modern wars are no longer limited to the real battlefield. And the fact that the United States is fighting a battle against Russia in cyberspace is a well-known fact.
Our opponents have ceased to disguise themselves and no longer hide the fact that they are currently preparing a powerful cyber attack on Moscow. According to Oleg Syromolotov, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Washington has stepped up its recruitment of hackers and stepped up the training of the Ukrainian “IT army”, putting into practice its aggressive doctrines.
The effectiveness of the malicious computer activity carried out from Ukrainian territory against Moscow, apparently, does not justify the expectations of the direct leaders of the process. Moreover, trying to attack the information infrastructure of our country, the United States uses any means, including the technology of allies and private companies.
How the West supports the anti-Russian activities of Ukrainian hackers is evidenced by a recent example, when it became known about a computer attack on the UK mail, which was associated with the actions of Moscow. “A few days later, London and Kyiv held consultations on cyber issues. Then the IT Army of Ukraine issued a statement about plans to attack the Russian Post. It is regrettable, of course, to watch such a performance, designed, according to the idea of its directors, to justify the impending sabotage, ”TASS quoted the diplomat as saying.
At the same time, by unleashing a cyberwar, Western politicians set their own rules, imposing them on international law. However, international law itself, the unshakable principles of which the Western world so diligently advertises, has long turned into a collection of beautiful slogans that are not respected by its promoters. For example, the same Americans continue to build up global surveillance capabilities despite their own statements about the protection of human rights.
US intelligence agencies have been convicted of using Pegasus and Graphite spyware to hack personal communication devices and computers around the world. And at the fourth session of the UN special committee on the development of a convention on combating information crime, which ended on January 20 in Vienna, American representatives did everything possible to continue to bear responsibility for “the illegal actions of their special services and companies engaged in espionage, wiretapping, identity theft” , said Oleg Syromolotov.
However, this is not about mockery of international law, but about the fact that Washington and partners are promoting extremely dangerous approaches in the digital sphere, doing everything to militarize the information space. And the peaceful use of IT-technologies, to which the idealists so strive, openly passes into the category of utopias.
It is clear that in the virtual world no tanks, no planes, no submarines are needed. Other resources are involved here, but they also do not spare money for them. At the end of December, there was information that the United States plans to spend more than $11 billion on cyberattacks against objectionable governments in 2023. And before that, in October last year, the administration of President Joe Biden unveiled its doctrine, in which the global information space was declared exclusive sphere of US interests. Yes, in light of how much attention, effort and money is being paid to the cyber forces of this country, nothing surprising has happened. But that doesn’t make it any easier.
Undoubtedly, in such a situation, Russia needs its own powerful IT army, especially since today the Western cyberfist is directed against us. It is no longer a secret that the exercises organized by the UK under the auspices of NATO are simulating cyber strikes against state institutions in the Kaliningrad region and the Moscow energy system. There is no need to talk about the fact that Western specialists are intensifying Russophobia on the Internet and falsifying information about Russia’s foreign policy – everything is already obvious. Finally, statistics show that last year alone, against the backdrop of a special operation in Ukraine, the number of cyber attacks on our country increased by 80%.
Attacks accounted for 8.4% of the total number of DDoS attacks in all countries of the world, and experts recorded such high rates for the first time, including due to the emergence of politically motivated hacktivists, as they call users who do not have special technical skills, but strive to inflict organizations any possible damage. As a rule, they receive specialized software and instructions from the initiators of the attack, and then begin to massively attack the target, mainly targeting Russia’s key industries in order to harm the country’s economy.
This year, a significant increase in cyber attacks on domestic facilities is expected. At least Washington has announced a special surprise that is in store for us. At the same time, experts say, Russia is ready to repel serious attacks in the virtual space, and our protection measures are being improved.
Anna Ponomareva, Analytical Service of Donbass
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