Russia Bluffs, Threatens To Attack Countries That Sponsored Hacking Of Their Websites

Russia is a threat to the state sponsoring internet hacking. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - A direct confrontation war could occur between Russia and Western countries led by the United States. This can happen if they ignore the warnings of the Red Bear country so that institutions or governments do not stop supporting the hacking of some parties to Russian sites.

The warning was launched by Russia on Thursday, June 9. They also noted that attempts to challenge Moscow in cyberspace would be met with targeted countermeasures.

The warning comes after the website of the Russian Ministry of Housing was hacked over the weekend. When an internet search was conducted for the site it led to a "Glory to Ukraine" sign in Ukrainian.

In a statement quoted by Reuters, Russia's Foreign Ministry said that Russia's critical infrastructure and state institutions were being hit by cyber attacks and pointed to figures in the United States and Ukraine as responsible.

"Rest assured, Russia will not leave its aggressive actions unanswered," he said. "All of our steps will be measured, targeted, in accordance with our laws and international law."

The statement, issued by the ministry's Head of International Information Security, addressed Washington's accusations of "deliberately lowering the threshold for combat use" of IT.

"The militarization of the information space by the West, and efforts to turn it into an arena of confrontation between nations, have greatly increased the threat of direct military clashes with unforeseen consequences," he said.

The websites of many state-owned companies and news organizations have experienced sporadic hacking attempts since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. In fact, the site is often used to display information that contradicts Moscow's official line on the conflict.

Moscow says it is carrying out "special military operations" in the neighboring country to disarm and protect it from fascists. Ukraine and Western countries reject Russia's claims as a pretext for an illegal invasion.

Even the Ukrainians have said that a massive hacking attack was carried out by Russia, or Russian-backed parties, a few days before their invasion.

Western intelligence agencies are also investigating a cyberattack by unidentified hackers who disrupted broadband satellite internet access in Ukraine. According to three sources with direct knowledge of the incident, this hack occurred to coincide with the Russian invasion, February 24.

Analysts for the US National Security Agency, French government cybersecurity organization ANSSI and Ukrainian intelligence are still investigating whether the remote sabotage of the satellite internet provider's services was the work of Russian-backed hackers, who prepared the battlefield by trying to cut off Ukrainian communications.

Like it or not, hacking is happening now. If Russia had started threatening and not just bluffing, there should have been attacks or confrontations since last April.