Facing Russian Cyber Attacks, Ukraine Calls Underground Hackers To Become Cyber Forces

JAKARTA – The Ukrainian government is asking for volunteers from underground hackers in its country to help and protect critical infrastructure. Ukraine has even asked hackers to carry out cyber-espionage missions against Russian troops.

As Russian troops attacked cities across Ukraine, requests for volunteers started appearing on hacker forums on Thursday morning, February 24, as many residents fled the capital Kyiv.

"Ukrainian cyber community! It's time to get involved in the cyber defense of our country," reads the post, which asks hackers and cybersecurity experts to submit applications via Google docs. They were also asked to list their specialties, such as malware development, and professional references.

Yegor Aushev, co-founder of a cybersecurity firm in Kyiv, told Reuters he wrote the post at the request of a senior Defense Ministry official who contacted him last Thursday. The company Aushev Cyber ​​Unit Technologies is known for collaborating with the Ukrainian government on the defense of critical infrastructure.

Others directly involved in the effort confirmed that the request came from the Ministry of Defense on Thursday morning.

Representatives of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense did not respond to requests for comment on the report. The defense attache at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington said he "could neither confirm nor deny the information from the Telegram channel" referring to the mobile messaging platform, and declined to comment further.

Aushev said the volunteers would be divided into defensive and offensive cyber units. Defense units will be used to defend infrastructure such as power generation and water systems. In the 2015 cyberattack, widely attributed to Russian hackers, 225.000 Ukrainians lost power.

Aushev's volunteer offensive unit said he arranged to help the Ukrainian military carry out digital espionage operations against invading Russian forces.

"We have soldiers inside our country," Aushev said. "We need to know what they're doing."

On Wednesday, newly discovered malware circulating in Ukraine had attacked hundreds of computers, according to researchers at cybersecurity firm ESET. Suspicion of the origin of the attacks falls on Russia, which has been repeatedly accused of hacking into Ukraine and other countries. The victims included government agencies and financial institutions. Russia itself has denied the allegations.

"This is an attempt to build a cyber military force that came too late," Aushev said of the creation of this cyber force.

A Ukrainian security official said earlier this month that the country does not have a special military cyber force. "Our job is to make it this year," he told the Washington Post, some time ago.

Aushev himself has stated that he has received hundreds of applicants and will start checking to make sure that none of them are Russian agents.