Jakarta –
Russian intelligence is said to have used hackers to target computer systems of law enforcement agencies in Ukraine.
The main target is to identify and steal evidence related to alleged war crimes against Russia. This was revealed by Yurii Shchyhol, head of the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP), the agency that handles cyber defense in Ukraine.
“There has been a change in direction, from focusing on energy facilities to law enforcement institutions, which previously were rarely targets (of hacking),” said Shchyhol, as quoted by detikINET from Reuters, Monday (25/9/2023).
“These changes point to courts, prosecutors, and law enforcement agencies, indicating that hackers are gathering evidence related to Russian war crimes in Ukraine,” he added.
This espionage will be revealed in the upcoming SSSCIP report, which will be published in the near future.
In the report, SSSCIP also said hackers were trying to collect information regarding Russian citizens arrested in Ukraine. The aim is likely to help the individual go unpunished and return to Russia.
“The hackers we identified as acting in this activity were part of the GRU and FSB, Russia’s intelligence agencies,” Shchyhol added.
The Russian Foreign Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB) did not respond to written requests from Reuters for comment on this news. Meanwhile, the GRU military intelligence agency could not be contacted for comment.
Shchyhol refused to reveal the identity of the hacker who carried out this action for security reasons. However, what is clear is that the number of cyber attack incidents monitored by SSSCIP increased by 123% in the first half of 2023 compared to the second half of 2022.
He also said that Russian hackers made government agencies a priority and tried to find access to their email servers.
Previously, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Hague, Netherlands, admitted to detecting unusual activity on their computer network at the end of last week. It is not known who was behind this action.
The ICC was in the news last March after they issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the alleged illegal deportation of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin rejects the ICC’s accusations and jurisdiction.
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(asj/fay)
2023-09-25 11:24:49
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