Volunteers sign up to help in cyberwars between Russia and Ukraine

Cyber warfare related to the Ukraine-Russia conflict is surging as digital volunteers from around the world enter the fight.

The number of cyberattacks being waged by — and on behalf of — both countries since the outbreak of the war is “staggering,” according to the research arm of Check Point Software Technologies.

“For the first time in history anyone can join a war,” said Lotem Finkelstein, head of threat intelligence at Check Point Software. “We’re seeing the entire cyber community involved, where many groups and individuals have taken a side, either Russia or Ukraine.”

“It’s a lot of cyber chaos,” he said.

In the first three days following the invasion, online attacks against Ukrainian military and governmental sectors increased by 196%, according to Check Point Research (CPR). They also modestly increased against Russian (4%) and Ukrainian (0.2%) organizations, according to the data, while simultaneously falling in most other parts of the world.

Since then, Ukrainian authorities estimate some 400,000 multinational hackers have volunteered to help Ukraine, said Yuval Wollman, president of cyber security company CyberProof and the former director-general of the Israeli Intelligence Ministry.

“Grassroots volunteers created widespread disruption — graffitiing anti-war messages on Russian media outlets and leaking data from rival hacking operations,” he said. “Never have we seen this level of involvement by outside actors unrelated to the conflict.”

Three weeks in, Ukraine continues to sustain a barrage of online attacks, with most aimed at its government and military, according to CPR’s data.

Moscow has consistently denied that it engages in cyberwarfare or assists cyberattacks. On Feb. 19, the Russian embassy in Washington said on Twitter that it “has never conducted and does not conduct any ‘malicious’ operations in cyberspace.”

CPR data shows attacks on Russia decreased over the same timeframe, said Finkelstein. There may be several reasons for that, he said, including Russian efforts to reduce the visibility of attacks or increased security to defend against them.

As a long-time target of suspected Russian cyberattacks, Ukraine is seemingly welcoming the digital help.

Following a request posted on Twitter by Ukraine’s digital minister Mykhailo Fedorov, some 308,000 people joined a Telegram group known as the “IT Army of Ukraine.”  

One member of the group is Gennady Galanter, co-founder of information technology company Provectus. He said the group is focused on disrupting Russian websites, preventing disinformation and getting accurate information to Russian citizens.

“It’s working,” he said, clarifying that he’s acting in his own capacity, and not for his company.  

Still,…