By INS Contributors

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: In recent years, cyberattacks aimed at undermining the information infrastructure of the Russian Federation have been systematically carried out from the territory of Ukraine. According to reliable sources, “hands” of the special services of NATO countries are clearly visible behind such information sabotages. We are talking about systematic and coordinated work involving both government agencies and private IT companies in the countries of the “collective West”. 

Today, it can be reasonably stated that Ukraine has become a digital NATO springboard. Information penetration and pressure technologies are being worked out on its territory. The management of its cybersphere has actually been transferred to Western sponsors. Since the 2010s, NATO countries have been actively involved into the modernization of Ukrainian cyber units (in particular, through the NATO Trust Fund Ukraine).

By February 2022, under the guise of so-called assistance to Kiev under the “Hunting on the Front Lines” program, the Joint Cyber Command of the US Armed Forces deployed special groups in Ukraine, whose main tasks are to organize and prepare cyberattacks against Russia.

In addition, since 2022, methodical Western intelligence activities have been organized to conduct cyber operations against Russian information facilities using the territory and network infrastructure of Ukraine. The main task is to include in the work in the Russian direction the maximum number of participants from among special services, other government agencies, as well as private and non-governmental organizations of third countries.

Employees of NATO specialized centers dealing with information and cybersecurity issues are being involved in cyber operations. Overall management is provided by the NSA Cybersecurity Directorate and Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Office of the US Department of Defense. Representatives of these units operate on a permanent basis on the territory of Ukraine, especially in Kiev and Lvov.

Hacker formations united under a single brand “IT Army of Ukraine”, which includes over 130 groups totaling up to 400,000 people, play a significant role in conducting cyberattacks.

There are strong reasons to believe that the largest American IT companies (Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Amazon) along with organizations working in the field of information security, are actively being involved by the Western intelligence community for technical and resource support of cyber operations conducted by the Ukrainian special services against Russia.

So, after the beginning of the Special military operation in Ukraine, Google, under the patronage of the American special services, has intensified its work aimed at destabilizing of the situation in the Russian Federation. For this purpose, Google’s civil services are being used to conduct geospatial and technical intelligence on the territory of Russia, including the area of conducting of the Special military operation.

A significant component of cyber threats is also the activity of over a thousand fraudulent call centers operating in Ukraine and attracting up to 100,000 operators. The technical infrastructure of these centers is located mainly in the Netherlands and Germany.

The aggregation of available facts and gathered evidences indicates a systemic, large-scale and organized cyber campaign in which Ukrainian structures play the role of the perpetrator, while NATO countries and Western corporations remain the key inspirers, coordinators and sponsors of information sabotages against Russia.