Ukraine targeted by Russian hackers

Following on from last year’s massive cyber attack on Estonia’s computer systems when Russian hackers, purportedly funded by the FSB (the modern equivalent of the KGB), brought the country’s computer systems to its knees in response to the removal of Soviet statues and war memorials, it looks as if those same hackers with the same funding are about to launch a bigger attack covering all the Baltic countries, and this time it will extend to Ukraine, according to Computer Crime Research Center.

Once again, appeals in Russian Internet forums calling for all Russian hackers to unite and launch a large-scale attack on the computer networks of government institutions in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia are on the increase, and now Ukraine is being included as a necessary target.

Those making the appeals, which many speculate are coming from the FSB again, state that Russian hackers are dissatisfied with “the way Russian-speakers are treated in Baltic countries,” and with the ban on the use of Soviet symbols.

Ukraine, however, is being targeted for slightly different reasons, and the appeals on Internet forums are citing the country as a target due to its NATO aspirations. “All the hackers of the country have decided to unite to counter the impudent actions of western superpowers. We are fed up with NATO’s encroachment on our motherland, we have had enough of Ukrainian politicians who have forgotten their nation and only think about their own interests, and we are fed up with the Estonian governmental institutions which blatantly re-write history and support fascism,” says the appeal appearing on Internet forums throughout Russia.

It is thought that the hackers intend replacing the original content on the websites they hack into with red stars and photos of Soviet soldiers, so let’s hope everyone’s keeping their systems backed up.