Microsoft Report: Cybercrime plays a much bigger role in the war in Ukraine than previously thought

The American tech giant talks about “the devastating and ruthless cyber attacks of Russia in its hybrid war against Ukraine.” These attacks “not only harmed the systems of Ukrainian enterprises, but were also aimed at disrupting the population’s access to reliable information and vital services,” said Tom Burt, Microsoft’s vice president of customer security.

Just before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “we saw at least six separate actors linked to the Russian state launch more than 237 operations against Ukraine, including devastating attacks that continue to this day and threaten the well-being of civilians.” .

Microsoft also states that the timing of the cyber attacks is very similar to the operations of the Russian military. For example, important radio and television companies in Ukraine were targeted on March 1, the day the Kyiv TV tower was bombed.

According to Burt, cyber attacks used “a variety of techniques to reach targets,” such as phishing and exploiting vulnerabilities. The number of observed attacks may be a “small fraction” of the actual number, it seems.