Russia: According to American and French analysts, Russia’s cyberwar against Ukraine has mostly failed and Moscow is now focusing more on Kyiv’s European allies.
In a report released by the French defence company, Thales claimed that Russia was using a variety of cyberweapons against Poland, the Nordic, and Baltic nations in an effort to create discord and spread anti-war sentiments.
“These groups of independent, civilian hacktivists have emerged as a new component in the conflict. They can be assimilated to a cybercriminal group with specific political objectives and interests, acting out of conviction, yet not directly sponsored by any government. Members of such groups have a broad array of origins, technical skills and backgrounds,” Thales cited in a statement.
Russian hackers were responsible for over 60 percent of all cyberattacks that were recorded globally, as per the statement. Russian agents carried out assaults in at least 17 European nations in the first six weeks of this year, in a threat assessment released by Microsoft earlier this month.
Russia launched an attack on Ukraine, but it has been unable to completely defeat its much smaller neighbour on 24th February of last year. Russia’s incursion, according to Thales and Microsoft, was accompanied by several cyberattacks in Ukraine, but they were repulsed.
Both firms claimed that by the end of last year, Moscow turned its attention to other European nations. In place of established organisations, Kremlin-aligned groups were increasingly carrying out these attacks, which Thales claimed were more focused on creating havoc than destroying infrastructure.