Before Jens leaves for work Denmark spends some hours defending her Ukraine in cyberspace. The 40-year-old IT specialist he watches Russian target websites via Telegram and then “bombs” them. These are websites of Russian organizations and companies. The ultimate goal of the Danish hacker is to crash these websites.
“I do it to punish him Russians “for the war crimes they are committing,” he told DW via encrypted message. Maintaining anonymity is essential in such conversations.
The number of pro-Ukrainian “cyber guerrillas” is not known. Their motives and the digital weapons they use are different and highly sophisticated. What unites them is the common goal: to support Ukraine.
Digital guerrilla warfare
It has been known for decades cyberwar as a form of war aimed at undermining the enemy or the extraction of sensitive information or just her causing confusion. But the war in Ukraine has sparked an unprecedented “digital guerrilla war.” According to the hackers, these are people who act independently launching cyber attacks without coordination by some central authority.
The idea for “Recruitment” of volunteer hackers was born in late February, when the war broke out in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian businessman and IT systems specialist Yegor Ausevwith the launch of the first Russian missiles in Ukraine, cybersecurity experts approached the Ukrainian government to offer their assistance.
“Our only motivation is to stop this war,” Aussef told DW, speaking from a location near Kyiv. He even estimates that a month after Russian invasion about 1,000 hackers are active in favor of Ukraine. The Ukrainian expert estimates that many are probably cooperating with a nucleus of the Ukrainian army in order to gather information about Russia.
The role of Anonymous and the criminal dimension
Since the outbreak of war in Ukraine, however active role plays and international hacker movement Anonymous, which declared “cyber war against the Russian government” via twitter. According to what they told DW two members of Anonymoushundreds of hackers launch advanced cyber attacks.
Less “advanced” hackers send messages to random numbers through a specialized website, affecting the dissemination of information. Finally, there is the category of hackers with little knowledge, who rushed to help, but did not fully understand how the hacker software works.
However, at a time when the Ukrainian government has embraced “cyber-guerrillas”, experts warn that corresponding practices are endangered. This is because non-war-related targets could be hit or digitally retaliated by even more sophisticated hackers.
“Any such attack could worsen the situation,” he said Dennis Kenji Kipker, Professor of Law and Digital Security in Bremen. As he points out, many hackers do not even know that many of their actions are illegal. This is definitely the belief of the Danish hacker Jens, who declares himself a “law-abiding citizen” who in peacetime would not do what he is doing now. As he puts it: “There is an ongoing war and I believe that I am fighting, like many others, in the digital army of Ukraine.”
DW / Janos Delker / Editor: Dimitra Kyranoudi
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