Microsoft Detected 'Destructive Cyberattacks' Against Ukraine Hours Before Russian Invasion

Microsoft says it began detecting "destructive cyberattacks directed against Ukraine's digital infrastructure" several hours before the Russian military began launching missiles or moving tanks into the country last week. From a report: The disclosure Monday, part of a larger blog post about Ukraine by Microsoft President Brad Smith, provides a glimpse of how cyber-warfare is being used as part of the ongoing invasion. The company says it is giving ongoing guidance to the Ukrainian government about cyberthreats as the situation unfolds. Smith also outlined the company's efforts to combat state-sponsored disinformation campaigns, ensuring that its platforms are not displaying or distributing any content or apps from Russia's state-sponsored RT and Sputnik news organizations, in line with a recent European Union decision. He wrote that there's "a well-orchestrated battle ongoing in the information ecosystem where the ammunition is disinformation, undermining truth and sowing seeds of discord and distrust," he wrote.

Re:

[XXongo]

I was wondering how fast the Russia disinformation machine would be to reply on this. First post!

Nice work, Ivan.

Re:

[quonset]

I was wondering how fast the Russia disinformation machine would be to reply on this. First post!

Nice work, Ivan.

It's like the anon who replied to my own post saying Repubicans aren't supporting Russia's invasion. Meanwhile, Republicans like Cucker Carlson are openly saying they're backing Russia's invasion.

It's almost as if growing up in a country where lying is endemic from the top down leads to a life of lying.

As a side note, Twitter is adding a tag/note/whatever to posts which come from offical Russian services so as to inform people of the disinformation Russia is putting out, such as not targeting civilians [twitter.com] (GRA

Re:

[JackieBrown]

Just because people disagree with you, doesn't mean they are Russians.

Re:

[TheNameOfNick]

Note that the story, the linked article and Microsoft's blog post do not concern themselves with attribution, but thanks for confirming what everybody was thinking.

Re:

[Merk42]

Even if it were Linux, UNIX, or anything else, you bet it would have been attacked. No Operating System is bug/vulnerability free.

In case anyone wonders (as I did)

[93 Escort Wagon]

The blog says they did inform the Ukrainian government about it immediately - which one would hope to be the case.

Re:

[PPH]

I guess they shouldn't have asked for support payment with gift cards.

Hours?

[ISayWeOnlyToBePolite]

Afaik they were at it for weeks in advance taking out ISPs, bank and government websites, cutting the power twice!

We should thank Putin

[Catvid-22]

Putin has done what no Boris or Biden could do, usher us into the post-Pandemic world. So now that the mainstream media has largely redirected its viral reporting to second page hyperlinks, we can return to our usual worries about climate change, inflation, petroleum and China, Inc.

Re:

[Alypius]

They've been inching towards post-Pandemic for a few weeks now, since they're worried about midterms. Masks are even "optional" at the SOTU address [nbcnews.com] so they can pretend it's over. Their own poll analysts are telling them to stop focusing on COVID precautions.

Re:

[Catvid-22]

Right. Just as practically everyone knew that Putin was inching toward war the past few weeks, all he had to do was affix his signature on the declaration of war (and his smirk on the video). Now that the price of oil has gone up, maybe the oil barons and sheiks can heave a (let's hope temporary) sigh of relief. But real people are dying, so I think it's also time to get serious on this one.

Re:

[jbengt]

They've been inching towards post-Pandemic for a few weeks now, since they're worried about midterms.

Right, has nothing to do with the omicron wave peaking. </sarcasm>

Re:

[Tailhook]

Indeed. Putin deserves thanks. He's cancelling Clown World faster than anything that's happened in 50 years.

The EU is supplying fighter aircraft to Ukraine. Sweden — abandoning its neutral stance — has sanctioned Russia and is supplying anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. The Germans have discovered that funding their military actually matters, and that they're going to need gas and coal to decouple from Russia.

Meanwhile the Russians are doubling down: Russian state media mouth pieces are open

Yes, of course, it's called ...

[be_kul]

Microsoft Update.

SCNR ;-)

Provides a glimpse on how propaganda...

[oh_my_080980980]

is used in military conflicts and how censorship plays an important role.

Internet Explorer

[kopecn]

As always, internet explorer is late to the party.

NY Times article on this story

[echo123]

As tanks rolled into Ukraine, so did malware. Then Microsoft entered the war. [nytimes.com]

Last Wednesday, a few hours before Russian tanks began rolling into Ukraine, alarms went off inside Microsoft’s Threat Intelligence Center, warning of a never-before-seen piece of “wiper” malware that appeared aimed at the country’s government ministries and financial institutions.

Within three hours, Microsoft threw itself into the middle of a ground war in Europe — from 5,500 miles away. The threat