Status: 31.08.2023, 05:01 a.m.
By: Bettina Menzel
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The IT army of Ukraine is fighting in the background with the soldiers on the front line (symbolic image). © IMAGO / VectorFusionArt
The Ukraine war is the first large-scale cyber war. An army of thousands of volunteers is fighting on the computer – instead of on the front line against Russia.
Kyiv – 10,000 active volunteers are fighting in the background with the men on the front line in the Ukraine war: The members of the volunteer organization IT Army of Ukraine are attacking the services of railways, tax authorities and toll stations in Russia – paralyzing them for hours, days or, in rare cases, weeks. Their weapons are not Storm Shadows or machine guns, but DDoS attacks. After all, the front line also runs online – and sometimes crosses legal borders.
Ukraine's IT army fights with DDoS attacks in cyber war against Russia
In distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, attackers send a large number of requests from different computers to a website until the server is overloaded and collapses. The aim is to cripple Russia's economy, block vital financial, infrastructure and government services, and "counter hostile media propaganda," the spokesman for Ukraine's IT army, who asked to be addressed only by the name "George," told fr.de of IPPEN. MEDIA. In principle, anyone with a computer and Internet access can join. Russia also uses this technique and uses it to attack European targets, among others.
Just two days after the start of the war, the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, announced the creation of the IT army. In addition to the thousands of volunteers, the decentralised organisation consists of a core group of 20 to 30 senior executives. George, the 40-year-old press secretary of the army, has been there from the beginning, as he tells Fr. de tells. Actually, he is a technology entrepreneur, but the IT army is his passion and, from his point of view, also a sincere contribution to the fight against Russia – even if he himself does not fight with weapons. The threat of bombing and the restriction of his freedom were the biggest cuts for him personally since the beginning of the invasion, George gives a personal insight.
"Such DDOS attacks are essentially material battles," Joachim Stelzer, computer specialist at the Chaos Computer Club, told fr.de the background. "Figuratively speaking, the attacker sends 1000 people to the supermarket to block the checkout line, and the supermarket tries to distinguish the 1000 people from the real customers and opens all existing checkouts." The problem is obvious: there are only a limited number of checkouts, and filtering out honest customers only works until the attacker finds out what the supermarket is paying attention to and dressing up its people accordingly.
IT Army of Ukraine: Attack is the best defense?
So, the main focus of the IT army is on attack, not defense. The reason: Protecting critical infrastructure requires access to sensitive data and systems that anonymous volunteers cannot obtain. Ukraine's Special Communications Service is responsible for defending cybersecurity, for example against Russian hacker groups such as NoName057(16) and others. Offensive measures are the logical step for the cyber army. One of their more well-known actions was the attack on the Russian navigation system Glonass – an alternative to the US Global Positioning System (GPS). However, the press spokesman did not want to reveal details.
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Many missions are conducted in "shadow mode" and are not publicly known, George added. Typically, two to three missions would run simultaneously at any given time, each targeting three to 15 key services. The Ukraine war is considered the first large-scale cyber war and technology plays an important role. However, artificial intelligence (AI) is not a major issue in the IT army, the spokesman continued. Apparently, this is mainly due to legal reasons. "Especially with regard to ChatGPT or other AI tools, we adhere to principles that prevent activities that could fall into gray areas," is the short answer.
How Ukraine's IT army protects itself against Russian spies
According to the army, there is usually no agreement with the Ministry of Defense and the organization is not directly subordinate to any ministry in Ukraine. "Coordination with external bodies is not common in the selection of targets," the spokesman said. There is also no identity check of the members. How to prevent infiltration into the system of Russian spies? First, the missions are not publicly announced.
In addition, "contributors only need to install specific software, and the configuration is automatically updated," the spokesperson said. This design prevents malicious actors from intervening and makes participation in the actions safe and easy for everyone involved. In any case, volunteers cannot cause any significant damage. "Even if a spy enters, he can only influence a small aspect, such as a Telegram post," it added.
IT army neither lawful nor illegitimate? "We are in an unprecedented situation"
According to the CSS Cyber Defense Report by Stefan Soesanto at the University of ETH Zurich, the legal status of the IT army is "neither lawful nor unlawful". This point of view reflects the "complex and unprecedented situation in which we find ourselves," the spokesperson admits. "We are engaged in a form of resistance that was not provided for in the existing legal framework, not only in Ukraine, but worldwide." They are aware that DDoS attacks, for example, are considered illegal under conventional legal conditions.
These are "extraordinary times that require extraordinary measures," the spokesperson continued. "Justice systems around the world should consider the unique conditions and motivations that drive our members to act." However, there are no "unethical practices" in the IT army. They use proxies and not botnets, the spokesman emphasized. After all, botnets are also legally problematic.
Fight with botnets against Moscow: Illegal attacks by volunteers
"A botnet is a network of hijacked computers," says Joachim Stelzer, a member of the Chaos Computer Club (CCC), to fr.de of IPPEN. MEDIA. "Crucial to the success of a botnet is its size, making it difficult to legally obtain enough devices. A botnet usually consists of illegally acquired machines," Stelzer continues. A proxy, on the other hand, is a piece of software that forwards requests coming from a client. In principle, this piece of software could run anywhere: "on your own hardware or on hijacked botnet machines. So the terms botnet and proxy are not mutually exclusive," the computer expert explained.
CCC member Stelzer expressed the suspicion that the IT army emphasizes the use of proxies because it attaches importance to using their own hardware rather than hostile systems taken over by innocent bystanders for their DDoS attacks. "We rely on some of our members to bring proxies that can actually be considered part of a botnet," George acknowledged when asked. However, by actors who participate voluntarily, the spokesman emphasized.
IT army will "never forget help in this difficult time"
If state actors, especially armies, were to rent – or "steal" – a botnet on the black market for their activities would mean that they would drag innocent bystanders from all over the world into a war, computer specialist Stelzer points out. "It would be like the Ukrainian army stopping all foreign vehicles on its territory and forcing the occupants to serve at the front." Technically, this may be possible, "but in my opinion, Ukraine in particular, which depends on the solidarity of Western countries, cannot afford such a step," Stelzer continued.
The IT army, however, hopes that its actions will be seen in the context of a struggle for survival, explains George. We are grateful for every contribution – moral support is more important than expertise. "We are fighting against a strong opponent and are grateful for any support from our friends in Germany and around the world," the spokesperson said, adding that Ukrainians will never forget the help people provided during this difficult time. (BME)