THE CONFLICT in Ukraine is going borderless as Russian hackers bring the fight to cyberspace.
Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, announced that they’ve observed a rise in hacks and attempted impersonations since the war in Ukraine began.
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Early in the conflict, the Kremlin blocked access to Facebook, and later Instagram – scuttling the Russian people’s ability to communicate with global peers.
CNet reported that Meta had actually observed sketchy online activity from “government-linked actors” prior to the invasion.
As the war continued, propaganda campaigns sprung up in Facebook networks in nearby, former-Soviet countries.
“We are actively now reviewing additional steps to address misinformation and hoaxes coming from Russian government pages,” said Nick Clegg, Meta’s president of global affairs.
In February, the month the war began, Meta clocked hackers keying on Ukrainian military personnel through a known hacking operation called Ghostwriter.
Ghostwriter attempted to hack into the Facebook accounts of Ukrainian military officials – and may have some succeeded in some cases, though Meta declined to name victims.
The European Union and independent intelligence agencies speculate that Ghostwriter is connected to the Kremlin.
Outside of direct hacks, the technique in Russia’s online initiative is to falsely depict the Ukrainian military as surrendering before battles.
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Meta has also had its own whistleblowing mechanism turned on itself.
The company had to remove hundreds of accounts that were wrongfully citing other accounts for hate speech violations.
Though the internet is a global enterprise, cyberwar and censorship in Russia is keeping the lid on information accessible to its people.
The Conversation described the new phenomenon as “aggressive military propaganda techniques combine with tools for online marketing.”
The conflict in Ukraine has showed the world that when a nation is invaded, social media and internet hackers will be immediately mobilized.
This March, the Biden administration published a statement urging all companies to undertake measures against cyber attacks.
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