Ukraine He stated this Sunday that he has “proof” of Russia’s involvement in a cyberattack against several government websites that took place this week, amid rising tensions between Kiev and Moscow.
It is cyber attack was perpetrated in the early hours of Friday, January 14, and targeted the Internet sites of several Ukrainian ministries, which were inaccessible for several hours.
To this day, all evidence points to Russia being behind the cyberattack,” the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation said in a statement.
This sabotage “is the manifestation of the hybrid war that Russia has maintained in Ukraine since 2014,” said the official body, referring to the year of the Kremlin’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula, which caused the conflict in the eastern region between the Kiev forces and pro-Russian separatists, supported by Moscow.
Its objective “is not only to intimidate society”, but also “to destabilize the situation in Ukraine (…) undermining the confidence of the Ukrainians in terms of their power”, with “false information about the vulnerability of the infrastructures information systems of the State” and regarding “the (possible) leakage of personal data of Ukrainians”, according to the aforementioned ministry.
The cyber attack It came amid heightened tensions between Russia and Ukraine, with Kiev and its Western allies accusing Moscow of deploying troops to their border in preparation for an attack.
Experts believe that an eventual invasion would be preceded by acts of computer sabotage, with the aim of disorganizing the Ukrainian authorities.
“Totally Different Paths”
In this unstable context, the expected return on Monday of the former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko (2014-2019) after a month of absence runs the risk of provoking a political crisis.
Main rival of the current president Volodymyr ZelenskyPoroshenko is accused by Kiev of “high treason” for having negotiated with pro-Russian separatists in the east.
In addition, several talks held this week between Russia and the West have failed to defuse tensions.
“In general, on a matter of principle, we can now say that we are on different paths, on totally different paths. And that is not good. It is disturbing,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said in an interview to be broadcast this week. Sunday on the American network CNN.
The United States will make a statement at the beginning of the week on the future of the negotiations.
“If Russia wants to follow the diplomatic path, we are fully prepared (…) If Russia chooses the path of invasion and escalation, we are also prepared and will respond firmly,” the National Security Adviser warned on CBS. from the United States, Jake Sullivan. “We are prepared for all scenarios,” he added.
“It is important to understand that the aggressor is Russia,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Canadian public broadcaster on Sunday. CBC. “Russia must initiate a de-escalation,” but we must also “send a message to Russia that we are willing to discuss and listen to their concerns,” he added.
The United States accused Russia on Friday of having introduced agents into Ukraine to carry out “sabotage” operations in order to invent a “pretext” to invade it, something Moscow denied.
“We have nothing to do with this,” Peskov said before the cameras, in a brief advance excerpt from the interview to CNN. “Ukrainians blame Russia for everything that happens to them, including bad weather in their country,” he quipped in one passage.
Russia denies any plan of aggression against Ukraine, but demands “guarantees” for its security, starting with a NATO commitment not to accept Kiev as a member.
However, Ukraine had said on Friday that it had “indications” of Moscow’s involvement.
Microsoft Warning
On Friday, the Ukrainian security service (SBU) pointed out that these attacks targeted a total of 70 government websites.
Ten of them suffered “unauthorized interference,” added the SBU, although it assured that “their contents were not modified, nor were there personal data leaks.”
Despite these reassuring statements, Microsoft warned this Sunday that this massive cyber attack it could render the entire Ukrainian government IT infrastructure inoperable.
Even though the “malware” detected resembles “ransomware”, which generally blocks access to the computer demanding financial compensation, in reality in this case it would have the objective of “destroying and making the sites inoperable and not collecting a ransom”. “, the American software giant noted on its blog.
The group said it had not been able to identify the source of the attacks until now.
kg
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx