At least six different Kremlin-related hacking groups have conducted around 240 cyber attacks on Ukrainian targets. This was revealed by Microsoft, whose vice president Tom Burt commented: “The Russian use of cyber attacks seems to be closely connected and sometimes directly synchronized with its kinetic military operations.” Microsoft’s report is the most comprehensive public document of Russian war-related hacking efforts in Ukraine.
Among Russian cyber operations, Burt cited a cyber attack on a Ukrainian broadcast company on March 1, the same day as a Russian missile attack on a television tower in Kiev, and emails sent to Ukrainians falsely claiming that the government Ukrainian was “abandoning” them during the Russian siege of the city of Mariupol.
Suspected Russian hackers “are working to compromise organizations in regions across Ukraine” and may have gathered intelligence on Ukrainian military partnerships many months before the invasion began, Microsoft says.