Ukraine Says 400,000 Volunteers Aid Hacking Against Russia

More than 400,000 people have volunteered to help a crowdsourced Ukrainian government effort that is using digital means to disrupt Russian government and military targets, according to a Ukrainian cybersecurity official. From a report: Victor Zhora, deputy chief of Ukraine's information protection service, said in a briefing Friday that the country was engaged in a "cyber resistance" against Russia that was aimed at making the country weaker. The update comes after Ukraine's minister of digital transformation called on international computer specialists to attack Russian web infrastructure. "Our friends, Ukrainians all over globe, [are] united to defend our country in cyberspace," Zhora said. Ukraine was working to do "everything possible to protect our land in cyberspace, our networks, and to make the aggressor feel uncomfortable with their actions," he added.

Re:like this?

[Jzanu]

You guys are pitiful. You don't even deserve to be called propagandists, you are doing a truly bad job! You don't know that Putin is intentionally destroying Russia. And Russia fucked up again by disabling these satellite receivers, because signal interceptors transform any and all satellite transmissions into beacons for bombs. While they could be used in rear echelon support, it would have been tempting to field them but now that they are disabled the Ukrainian soldiers will simply use all the other less detectable communication tools instead. Guess what? Putin wants to hobble your army with every order. To kill them not only because the rank and file threaten his power, but because he truly hates Russia itself. Putin hates Russia for betraying the Soviet idea. He's not waging any glorious Protect Russia campaign or even really working to restore the Soviet Union, he's punishing you for letting it die by killing as many Russians as he can.

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[RobinH]

Mod parent +1 insightful. Best explanation I've heard yet for the complete and utter stupidity of the Russian invasion. They were (thankfully) set up to fail. I think Putin's trying to get rid of some internal threats to his power.

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[Whateverthisis]

That's the stupidest explanation I've ever heard. Putin is sharp and understands Russian history very clearly. He has zero interest in old soviet tactics, his every interest is in Russian stability.

In over 1,000 years of Russian history, Russia was strong and stable under authoritarian rulers. The unfortunate thing about Russia is that is massive, relatively sparsely populated, and highly difficult to control with extensive infrastructure. For most countries historically, a bad harvest would mean ec

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[RobinH]

I'm having a hard time buying the idea that this at all about Russia, and not about Putin's self-interest. There is no existential threat to Russia as long as they have nuclear weapons. Their biggest threat would be nukes stationed in neighbouring countries. That could be handled with a treaty, as NATO has no interest in escalation, clearly. Honestly if he cared at all about his people he'd move Russia closer to Europe and western values. He's interested in building a bigger palace for himself, and he'

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[Whateverthisis]

While what you say sounds logical, it's practically impossible.

I once sat with a friend of mine discussing the European Union; she's a Polish ex-pat. She was of course very in favor of the European Union. So I challenged her and said "Are Russians European? You've added Croatia, which is Slavic, Hungary which is Magyar, and Finland, Estonia, Latvia, which are some form of Scandinavian. Russia may be in Asia but it's ethnically and geographically closer to Europe than Central Asia or East Asia." She

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[RobinH]

Maybe, but that indicates a very backward looking Russia. In 2022 we have cyber attacks and we're about to have hypersonic missiles and we could probably crowd-fund a payload of manure on a SpaceX rocket to land on the Kremlin. Buffer zones hardly matter. The best defense, short of nukes, is a financial system so tightly integrated with your adversary that they wouldn't dare hurt you or your economy because it would hurt theirs so much. That's where I think Russia and China differ here. Russia isolated

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[RightSaidFred99]

Lol, you would have to be a moron to think NATO or America is interested in invading Russia, now or ever. It's fucking laughable, the fever dreams of an insane old man. The nuclear deterrent enough makes it a fucking joke to even contemplate.

If we wanted to destroy Russia, we'd just destroy their economy. Which is what we're doing now, ironically. Say what you will about China, they know how to win in the 21st century - with economic might. They must be absolutely laughing their ass off at how stupid Putin

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[Whateverthisis]

You sit in a basement. You don't have to do strategic planning.

Strategic planners don't think "no way America would want to destroy Russia, that's crazy! We got nukes!" They realize that nothing is certain and they plan every contingency. I guarantee you that America has plans to take over Mexico and Canada in case a foreign power ever turned them against us, which is the most absurd thing in the world to think. The point is, if that happened, what should America do and are they prepared.

There'

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[Jzanu]

You're no planner either, at best you are military reject unfit for even conscription service. Yeah, you don't even cut it as a bag of meat to catch a bullet. You are that fucking stupid.

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[RightSaidFred99]

Lol, strategic planning does not mean launching a war that will reduce your nation to a much worse state. Note we aren't invading Canada or Mexico even if we had such plans because that would be idiotic to do based on a .0001% chance of us being better off in 50 years if we do it now.

Putin is destroying what greatness was left in Russia and turning it into a terrorist state. In just a few weeks the international community has taken a giant, smelly shit on the Russian economy. It's only going to get worse. I

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[Whateverthisis]

Try reading. I never said the US will invade Canada and Mexico. I said the US runs scenarios and plans for those things so they understand what to do.

But to your point about launching a war to reduce your nation to a worse state; actually No, that happens all the time. The War of 1812? The German invasion of Poland? The Vietnam War and how it gutted the American culture and confidence in the State? All those started with an intent to win based on their calculations at the time.

Besides, Putin had

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[ToasterMonkey]

I guarantee you that America has plans to take over Mexico and Canada in case a foreign power ever turned them against us

In the context of Russia, Ukraine, the EU, NATO, what in the actual fuck do you mean turn Canada against us?

Like Canada joining the EU? We'd invade Canada? Are you fucking nuts?
NATO isn't driving Ukraine's defensive goals, nobody is thinking about moving nuclear weapons into Ukraine. Russian aggression, THIS bullshit, is the reason Ukraine wants western ties. How can you not see that?

You have to step back and realize that anything less than Ukraine gargling Putin's balls is his definition of "turning a

Re: like this?

[ami.one]

EU ?
You think NATO:RUSSIA is same as EU:USA ? Are you 12?

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[ToasterMonkey]

EU ?
You think NATO:RUSSIA is same as EU:USA ? Are you 12?

Hi, I'm 12, and I'm going to school you on recent world events.

Look at the timeline please.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]–European_Union_relations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

This is literally what lead to the Ukrainian revolution that ousted Yanukovych, which initiated Russian hostility towards Ukraine.

Yanukovych said that this vote was illegal and possibly coerced, and asked the Russian Federation for assistance.[38] Russia considered the overthrow of Yanukovych to be an illegal coup, and did not recognize the interim government. Widespread protests, both in favor of and against the revolution, occurred in the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, where Yanukovych previously received strong support in the 2010 presidential election. These protests escalated, resulting in a Russian military intervention,[39][40] the annexation of Crimea by Russia, and the creation of the self-proclaimed breakaway states of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Look at the timeline here please.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]–NATO_relations

"NATO did it" is a smokescreen. Because the reality is anything short of holding Putin's dick is anti-Russ

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[ToasterMonkey]

Slashdot ate the hyphens apparently, here are better links.

Events leading to Ukrainian revolution and Russian hostilities.
Ukraine-European_Union_relations [wikipedia.org]
Revolution_of_Dignity [wikipedia.org]

History of Ukraine - NATO relations.
Ukraine-NATO_relations [wikipedia.org]

This is really so simple a 12 year old can understand, enjoy.

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[Whateverthisis]

I can see Slashdot's reading comprehension is at it's usual low. I clearly stated it's absurd to think about that.

Many of my friends are wargamers; not table top but actually work for the DoD conducting scenarios. They plan out every situation imaginable, even utterly unthinkable scenarios. They try to determine what factors could turn a situation we take for granted, like our alliance with Canada and Mexico for example, and imagine what types of things could turn that scenario. They then strategize

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[Jzanu]

So your claim to knowledge is a lack of all related experience, training, familiarity, or occupation. You drink beer with people employed by think tanks and think anything they can tell you as a third party makes you informed on any issue here. Yet you rant incessantly. You are an actual child regardless of your age.

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[ToasterMonkey]

Many of my friends are wargamers; not table top but actually work for the DoD conducting scenarios. They plan out every situation imaginable, even utterly unthinkable scenarios. They try to determine what factors could turn a situation we take for granted, like our alliance with Canada and Mexico for example, and imagine what types of things could turn that scenario.

Is that why you're so hopelessly confused? The point of wargaming is to do what you said, to test and develop new tactics, find blind spots in our military strategies, for training, etc. We can wargame the District of Columbia seceding to become an independent nation-state, but don't confuse that with strategic planning, FFS.

Russia invading Ukraine is not a hypothetical. They did it, and we can analyze the actual rationale for that. I don't know what you hope to achieve by comparing that to a hypothetic

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[DanDD]

That's the stupidest explanation I've ever heard. Putin is sharp and understands Russian history very clearly. He has zero interest in old soviet tactics, his every interest is in Russian stability.

Hmm, suspect, but okay, lets see where this goes...

In over 1,000 years of Russian history, Russia was strong and stable under authoritarian rulers.

So, killing 20 million people to maintain power somehow lends credibility to being both strong and stable: Stalin [wikipedia.org]

...even under Stalin Russia was stable and growing

Maybe it's just me, but your definition of stable and growing seems highly suspect...

Putin knows two things: he must have complete control of the masses to keep Russia stable and strong, and he must keep Russia stable and strong because historically everyone is out to kill them.

Ah Ha! There you are Vlad! Glad we could finally make eye contact. We were all hoping that Russia would someday become the partner we were all longing for during WWII. Instead, we got gremlins and the cold war :( We've been waiting ever since for calm

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[Darinbob]

Stalin also made a mistake. He started off friendly towards Hitler, and they were dividing up central Europe between them. Biggest "appeasement" of the era possibly. There was not much "eastern front" to speak of until they had a falling out they both tried to grab too much. It's a bit difficult to lump this under "everyone hates us!" rhetoric.

Also for the "everyone hates us!" idea, the same armies that attacked Russia also attacked the countries in central Europe. The difference is that those countries w

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[Chris Mattern]

SpaceX Chief @elonmusk also said "Putin is a really cool guy and my best bud." Really and truly he did.

Is getting slashdotted still a thing?

[ardmhacha]

In the good old days getting linked by a story on Slashdot could bring many an unprepared website to it's knees.

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[walkerp1]

Haha, that would require people to RTFA, which is another anachronism.

A Dangerous Appeal

[walkerp1]

It seems irresponsible for a ministerial-level IT guy to effectively ask people to engage in unlawful activity. Hacking Russia under these auspices might seem like a heroic thing to do, given the framing, but if you aren't a Ukrainian soldier working under the direction of the government, you aren't shielded from the consequences of these kinds of vigilante activities.

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[SciCom Luke]

Exactly. The Belgian government already discouraged partaking in this, because Russian IT is pretty good and a few Belgian cooperators are not going to make a significant impact, while a Russian retaliation could cripple Belgian infrastructure.

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[Jzanu]

Only traitors complain about sacrifice to defend their country. Some in Belgium may think they are insulated if they hide from the war, but this new European war comes for them either way and their choice is to fight it or lose it. These IT volunteers are the Flying Tigers of cyberwarfare. History will remember their virtue even if it takes a decade for the politicians to catch up.

Re: A Dangerous Appeal

[pele]

Nice typewriter, olympia perchance?

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[RightSaidFred99]

You.. I mean.. you're.. Wait, you're fucking joking right? Some of the shit I read around here, jesus fucking christ.

Here's a protip - civilians are being bombed, and everyday Ukrainians are picking up arms and literally killing Russian soldiers. And, let me get this straight, you think it may be questionable for them to engage in unlawful cyber-hacking against their enemy? I mean, molotov cocktails and a 7.62 round to the face - OK, but cyberhacking "oh, be careful fellows, that's against the lawsies!"?

In

Re: A Dangerous Appeal

[walkerp1]

So, here's the thing. TFA states that it was a appeal, i.e. everyone. It also says "we are all Ukrainians", but that's just a metaphor. Nobody here is suggesting that Ukrainians not defend themselves. Non-Ukrainans are the subject of the warning.

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[RightSaidFred99]

Ahh, ok fair point but you did call out specifically "Ukrainian soldiers", which would imply them as being something different than Ukrainian civilians. I think any Ukrainian can do whatever they want with regards to Russia without worrying about the law (outside of atrocities, of course).

So I guess you don't have to shut the entire fuck up.

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[rocket rancher]

hmmm. Your concern over the legality of hackers dismantling Putin's infrastructure is misplaced. To be honest, this is just the start. The thousands and thousands of hackers that have already started the process are being joined by state-level actors. I seriously doubt anybody is going to convene a court of law anywhere to go after the crews that take Russia back to the stone age. Putin is the one needing to experience some consequences for his behavior, and I hope he ends up a cautionary example f