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Evidence of Russian Cyberwarfare Against Georgia
Posted by
timothy
on Sat Aug 09, 2008 10:39 PM
from the oh-this-won't-go-back-and-forth-forever dept.
from the oh-this-won't-go-back-and-forth-forever dept.
An anonymous reader writes "In what seems to be a repeat of what happened in July, a few news sites have mentioned that there is evidence of a campaign against Georgia. For example, both the government's and the president's sites are inaccessible, among other official websites. For some analysis, the RBN Exploit blog demonstrates various traceroutes that have failed to several sites. They also claim that the RBN (Russian Business Network cyber-crime organisation) are behind the attacks, and that 'Many of Georgia's internet servers were under external control from late Thursday,' before the actual war began. Finally, according to this Twitter account of someone in Georgia (written in Russian), he claims that 'Russia has blocked access to Georgian websites from within Russia' (rough translation)."
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Submission: Evidence of Russian cyberwarfare against Georgia by Anonymous Coward
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They hit CNN (Score:5, Funny)
After Google told them they were based in Atlanta, Georgia.
The Russians hit the truth. (Score:4, Informative)
To understand how Russian "justice" works, read the shocking story [washingtonpost.com] published by "The Washington Post" (TWP). Natalia Trufanova was driving a Zhiguli [washingtonpost.com] (a lightweight Russian car) with her family in Moscow in September of 2007. She was minding her own business and dutifully obeying the traffic laws. Then, suddenly, a motorcade carrying Supreme Court President Vyacheslav Lebedev and coming from the opposite direction entered the wrong lane -- the lane in which Trufanova was driving. A vehicle in the motorcade smashed into the Zhiguli, killing Trufanova and her family. The Russian police wrote a false report, claiming that Trufanov drove into the wrong lane.
TWP notes, "When angry witnesses started posting video on the Web clearly showing that it was the motorcade that was driving in the wrong lane, the lead investigator looking into the accident said that he didn't have access to the Internet."
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Bullshit, BP says pipeline has not been bombed (Score:4, Informative)
The owners of the pipeline say it has not been bombed. See http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080809/world/georgia_sossetia_russia_unrest_oil_bp [yahoo.com]
The report about the pipeline attack is almost certainly Georgian propaganda (unless it's simply unsubstantiated rumors) - and it looks like the British journos fell for it. But hey, in this modern world of journalism 2.0, who cares about truth and fact-checking, as long as you can get the pageviews?
Parent
Re:The Russians hit the truth. (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
The UK, the US and France, are pinpointing what they say is Russia's aggression as the key factor in the slide towards war, while Moscow insists Georgia is to blame.
Re:The Russians hit the truth. (Score:4, Insightful)
The daily mail is the UK equivalent of Fox news by the way
Parent
Of course they cut access (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Of course they cut access (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:Of course they cut access (Score:5, Insightful)
they could do more serious damage to Georgian communications infrastructure
from what I understood, Russia just bombed a relatively important Georgian port and they are actively bombing a georgian town centre close to the border. I feel like Russia forces in the area are already bombing as much as they can. The whole Russian army isn't concentrated in that part of the world.
Anyway it was truly foolish for the Georgian government to attack the rebel region if they knew that their army was no match for the Russian forces...If they didn't know, they should leave the office at once. You didn't need to be a expert to understand that.
The truth is that Russia is about to seize two ex Georgian territories for some good reasons (oppressed minorities) and somes bad ones (Russia is historically interested by southern territories near the black sea...It all started in the XIX, see the crimea war). The current Georgian state cannot do much against it. They should concentrate themselves on economic recovery (there were good signs lately), diplomacy (looking for support in the west was a good idea...But it takes time...Such a strategy requires decades of hard work and diplomatic skills) and building a better future for their citizens.
I had always some sympathy for Georgia, they used to be the last european bastion in front of invaders of all sort (mongols, muslims, etc.), I truly hope they'll get the leaders they deserve.
Parent
Twitter | Google language tools (Score:2)
Twitter | Google Translate
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2Fwardirect&hl=en&ie=UTF8&sl=ru&tl=en [google.com]
The Redcross (Score:5, Funny)
Times like these are when the red cross is most appreciated. They will likely soon be flying in C-130's full of porn and lol-cats jpegs. 'Round the clock flights will continue until the Georgian internet connections can be restored.
(additionally, the traceroutes could also fail because the routers and computers have been exploded by the russians with bombs from airplanes. this would be a worrying escalation of cyberwarfare).
How about a much simpler explanation? (Score:5, Interesting)
Georgia is a small republic with very little traffic to web resources under normal conditions. Now they are getting likely several orders of magnitude more traffic. And these are the consequences. But of course the "cyberwarfare" is much juicier piece for journalists to chew on.
Welcome to 21st century warfare... (Score:3, Funny)
...where astroturfing, sock-puppetry, slanted journalism and propaganda matters far more than the reality on the ground. Slashdot is a contested territory, and it looks like Georgia's propaganda troops have launched a first strike.
Not that I'm defending Russia here. The only reason Georgian astroturfers have overpowered the Russian ones on Slashdot is that the moronic Russian leadership, as usual, hasn't been investing enough resources in information warfare.
Re:How about a much simpler explanation? (Score:4, Interesting)
Please read the news once in a while. Russia has launched cyberattacks on smaller neighbors before, most notably Estonia. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyberattacks_on_Estonia_2007 [wikipedia.org]
By all accounts, Russia and Georgia are both to blame for what's going on here. But if you look at the pattern of behavior in the past few years... well, we've seen Russian dissidents poisoned with radioactive sushi, Russian journalists assassinated, an opposition leader in the Ukraine poisoned with dioxin... Jesus H. Christ, wake up and smell the coffee already. Maybe we don't think we're in the next phase of the Cold War, but Putin pretty clearly does, and he's acting accordingly.
America has enough enemies in the world that we don't need to make another one out of Russia. And as an American, I don't see any real reason that the United States and Russia can't be allies, rather than enemies. But that doesn't matter; Putin quite clearly thinks otherwise, and that is the only thing that matters. Russia sees the West as a threat, and they are treating us (and the Western-allied Georgia) accordingly. This is not just Russia vs. Georgia, this is Russia vs. Georgia + EU + USA. And the question is, what are the EU and the USA going to do about it? The last thing the United States needs is more conflict and war, of course. But appeasing tyrants is generally not a good move, either.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
"But appeasing tyrants is generally not a good move, either."
The problem the U.S. has here is much of the world thinks Bush is a tyrant. Because he invaded Iraq under false pretenses, and condoned torturing people he doesn't really have any moral high ground to stand on at this point. I recall when Bush and the U.S. started lecturing Putin about issues with elections in Russia he shot back that the elections in the U.S., after irregularities in Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Alabama, weren't anything to be br
Re: (Score:2)
No, that's because they're using Microsoft web servers. Way too easy for script kiddies :)
No shit! (Score:4, Interesting)
"In what seems to be a repeat of what happened in July, a few news sites have mentioned that there is evidence of a campaign against Georgia."
A campaign against Georgia? You don't say! What tipped you off, the explosions? The Black Sea Fleet moving off the coast? The miles-long military convoys crossing into Georgian territory? The planes dropping bombs in populations centers?
Oh, the IP logs. Can't have a real war until Netcraft confirms it, I s'pose.
Great Jokes (Score:2, Insightful)
Everyone is making fun of the invasion of a democratic country?
Thats slashdot for ya i guess. Depends on which country does the invading.
Re: (Score:2)
Nah. But just see how many people here get upset if you cut off their access to pirated pr0n, movies and tunes or even threaten the possibility.
Cheers,
Dave
Re: (Score:2)
shouldn't that be "War of the Rebellion?" After all, slashdot was founded in Michigan.
Organized crime (Score:2)
Is not the same to have a group of people that believing government sponsorized news decide by their own to cyber-attack a country, to being hired by or belong to the government to do that.
Re: (Score:2)
What's the difference between the government and the Mafia?
One of them is organised.
Welcome to the New G-Mail, Tavarisch (Score:2)
In Soviet Russia... (Score:2)
Oh nevermind...
Go Georgia! (Score:2, Insightful)
Time to root for the little country trying to get its own territory back under its own control.
Puting's claims of "genocide" [bbc.co.uk] are pathetic and would only work on the already brainwashed Russians [libertyforum.org] themselves. Seeing these assholes trumpet their government's lies is just as scary as seeing Chinese bloggers' anti-Tibet postings [slashdot.org].
They are trying to paint South Osetia as some sort of Kosovo, where the evil Georgians deserve to be punished the same way Serbians did. Except, unlike then, there is no genocide or "
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Go Georgia! (Score:5, Interesting)
Note: not saying that what happened in Kosovo was all right by any means, my point is that the parallels between the two situations are entirely justified and they expose hypocrisy by the west. There is hypocrisy in the Russian position as well but at least they pay a lip service to preservation of territorial integrity (as per international law) in both cases.
Parent
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
Re: (Score:2)
There are no good guys in this war. (Score:5, Interesting)
This may be hard for an American mind to grasp, but *there are no good guys here*.
Georgians are not good guys. Their goal is to militarily crush a national independence movement and to subjugate a people who hate the Georgians' guts. They've been planning this blitzkrieg operation for years (a nation doesn't increase its military spending by a factor of 30 if they aren't planning to invade somebody.) They cynically violated ceasefire terms, used massed artillery to bombard residential areas (killing ~1400 Ossetian civilians in one day), and were ethnically cleansing Ossetian villages. Now that their military effort has failed, they've launched a massive propaganda offensive to convince ignorant westerners that white is black and that a nation that launched an offensive war is somehow a victim.
But Russians ain't good guys either. Instead of trying to limit the killing, it looks like they are escalating the conflict by supporting the Abkhazians in Kodori. They are cynically using the excuse of protecting Ossetians from genocide to conduct a massive bombing campaign against Georgia's military infrastructure. And Russia has neither the desire nor the technological capability to limit collateral damage from its bombs.
What you are seeing is, essentially, a small bully being bullied by a bigger bully.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Weeeelll....actually it's more like Russia has been planning this for years. Those Ossetian peaceniks you talk about opened fire across the "border" at Georgian villages, knowing Georgia had vowed to protect their territory. Of course they wouldn't have done this without knowing Russia had an invasion plan ready.
Or do you really believe a country whose leadership insists that "we can't control this, our volunteers have taken action", while fighter jets and bombers are flying about and tank columns are rol
Re:There are no good guys in this war. (Score:4, Insightful)
No, Russia was not planning this for years - primarily because this war significantly weakens Russia's position. Russia's main goal is to keep Georgia out of NATO. To do so, all it had to do was sponsor the Ossetian and Abkhazian independence movements (nations with unrecognized de-facto independent provinces are not allowed to be NATO members). But now that Russia has sent an army brigade into South Ossetia, the Ossetian independence movement no longer looks genuine (some Western observers have compared it to a Russian land-grab), and as a result, there is now a good chance that Georgia will be let into NATO. Given that starting this war would make it much harder to achieve Russia's foreign policy goals, do you really think Russia would have wanted to start it?
The invasion of Ossetia was a very shrewd move on Georgia's part. Massive military retaliation was the least bad of several bad response moves that Russia had at its disposal.
Parent
Lithuanian President's Website (Score:4, Informative)
http://www.president.lt/en/news.full/9475 [president.lt] [Joint Press Release on the Lithuanian President's Webpage]
I know it's not so slashdotty, but it's relevant to the conflict in general and interesting nonetheless.
Re: (Score:2, Interesting)
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Poland -- where have I seen this list before?
Oh, that's right, it's the list of countries that had sucking up to US and taking political potshots at Russia as the cornerstone of their foreign policy since 1991. With such famous successes as celebrating Estonian Nazi volunteers (Estonia, obviously), providing torture camps for their new American friends (Poland), harassing Russians traveling between a small Russian exclave accessible only through their territory and the rest o
Re: Translation (Score:2, Informative)
Good translation, and thanks for the twitters.
The person also mentions that protesters are out in Tbilisi, notwithstanding Russian bombing runs, that Russian hackers are attacking any news site that relates what is really going on in Georgia, that he has asked some hacker friends to attack CMI (rough translation of a Russian news site) and they have (seemingly) complied, that he hears rumblings - the light has been knocked out, as well as telephone towers and no TV exists now, and finally asks for humanity
Relevant Charles Stross short story (Score:2)
Hell, I'd take what he depicts there to the usual government-sanctioned mass-murder type of war...
Why Is Anyone Surprised? (Score:5, Informative)
Anyone who is surprised at this is probably unaware that disruption, denial and subversion of communications is a common factor in all modern (as in more modern than two groups of grunting and growling rock throwers) warfare. Telegraph and phone lines got cut. Radio got jammed. Alexander had fires built upwind of enemy columns to make it hard for them to see each other easily. The US Army confiscated the radio of the British ham operator on Grenada that was broadcasting a running commentary of infantry firing over the heads of the medical students being "rescued". The US news broadcast footage clearly showed them being forced to run under a line of firing (most likely blanks) M-16s; the early news shows broadcast the ham operator's reports along with the footage, but his reports were absent from the late news broadcasts.
Command and control (C2) refers to the ability of military commanders to carry out strategy and tactics. The addition of Communications (C3) refers to inclusion of the ability to carry out C2 without being present on the battlefield and the ability of units to coordinate over distance. That's the US version, the NATO version of C3 being "Consultation, Command and Control", just a different label for the same process. It's now frequently referred to as C4 because it includes computers. Since they are used for more than communication, the fourth C is not redundant. The other thing they're used for is data analysis for intelligence generation, so the "I" in "C4I" *is* redundant. And all the other extensions out to C4ISTAR is just showing off.
Being "cyber", it's pertinent to /. but it's not news unless one assumes that one particular form of communication should be immune to this "time honored tradition".
DarthLion (Score:5, Funny)
Big Mac Thesis: No two nations with McDonald's franchises have ever gone to War
It seems like this rule is going to be broken.
McDonalds Moscow vs MCDonalds Tbilisi
Georgia blank on Google Maps? (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyone else seeing Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan as blank areas with no towns or roads in Google Maps? The change happened sometime in the last few hours.
Re:Georgia blank on Google Maps? (Score:5, Informative)
Anyone else seeing Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan as blank areas with no towns or roads in Google Maps? The change happened sometime in the last few hours.
Umm...WRONG!
As someone who was born and raised in Armenia and often visits Google Maps to see if the map data or satellite imagery has been updated, I can definitively say that throughout the entire existence of Google Maps, all three Transcaucasian republics have always been blank with no road and city data.
Parent
Twitter - English (Score:3, Informative)
I don't blame you. (Score:2)
--points at World War I
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:The Spark (Score:5, Insightful)
"I have a bad feeling that this conflict is going to spread,"
You're young. People always get a little jittery when an invasion happens somewhere and they're not the ones behind it. Now you know how the rest of the world feels.
"catalyzing all the violence that has been the undercurrent of world politics in the past few years."
Except that, if you turn off the television from time to time, you'd see that things are still rather peaceful compared to recent history.
"A possible world war."
It's difficult to have a world war without two large international factions aligned against each other. It'd be difficult (to say the least) to determine common enemies in the smattering of brushfire regional wars we're seeing.
Heck, what we're seeing in Georgia right now stands out because it's just so damned old skool: using a fifth column to destabilize a neighbor to soften them up for some good ol' fashioned land-grabbing. You gotta give credit to Putin, he knows his stuff.
Parent
Re:The Spark (Score:5, Interesting)
In 1991, when Georgia seceeded from the soviet union, a civil war followed in which these two provinces separated themselves from Georgia.
Historically, when a province or state seceeded from another country, there has rarely been unanimous agreement as to exactly where the new border should be. Take as an example a certain secession attempt in the western hemisphere in 1861.
Quite often the province borders aren't drawn along ethnic lines, sometimes they're even completely arbitrary. For example the borders between Croatia and Serbia and Bosnia were the one time border between the Austrian and Turkish empires.
In the last two decades, a number of provinces have seceeded from larger eastern european countries, and every time the international community ("the west") was quick to recognize the independence, and the new borders exactly as the breakaway province claimed them, disregarding any claim by the other side as imperialism.
The war in Bosnia for example was a result, as a large chunk of the new country felt more Serbian than Bosnian, and attempted to break away from Bosnia by military means.
More such conflicts (and probably wars) are almost certain, as about 15 million Russians live in former Soviet republics (up to 30% of the population in some), many of whom presumably would prefer to be part of Russia.
The same situation took place in the countries of the present EU as nation states took form in the 19th century, which was followed by about 100 years of terrible wars, and ultimately settled by ethnic cleansing and assimilation politics on a massive scale. (15 million ethnic Germans were deported from central and eastern Europe after WW2, for example, forever ending any German territorial claims)
Parent
Re:How about when the government is net-based? (Score:4, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:2)
...where would you put a screen door on an M1A1?
Re: (Score:2)
I think a BMP-1 [wikipedia.org] would be a better example for this part of the world. And the screen would go on the back, where the door is.
Yep, that's what the Georgians use. 149 with reactive armor in 2008. 40 in 2007. Originally 667 were inherited from former USSR in 1991. 80 BMP-1 and BMP-2 IFVs were claimed by the Abkhaziyan Army and the same amount by the South Ossetian Army. But Russia still has 1,543 in active service and more than 9,057 in reserve.
Re: (Score:2)
Well, yes. But a BMP-1 has very different access points to an M1.
Screen-hatch, perhaps...