A group of hackers in Ukraine are doing what they can to support their own country’s resistance while the military and other systems are fighting the enemy. It is led by a 31-year-old named Nikita Knysh. Nikita, a former employee of Ukraine’s security service, is a very familiar name among hackers in the country.
∙ Nikita is armed against Russia – a weapon called the computer
HackControl is the name of a YouTube channel started by Nikita in 2017 to promote digital literacy. When the war in Ukraine broke out, Nikita took up arms against Russia, saying he could not afford to be a bystander. The weapon was his computer. Nikita was not alone in entering the cyber war. He was joined by thousands of volunteers who knew hacking. Nikita and his cohorts launched hacking attacks against Russia as Russian troops advanced, destroying Ukrainian cities and killing the country’s citizens.
∙ Ukraine without cyber forces
Realizing that the country does not have a cyber army is what led Nikita to fight. HackYourMom Academy is a website created by Nikita to teach Ukrainians digital warfare. This website is free. The lessons taught in Ukrainian, Russian and English are very simple.
Beginners are taught how to install an antivirus program, how to connect to a VPN service, and how to run a virtual machine from a computer. At the same time, more advanced subjects are also taught to those who qualify. For example, a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack teaches how to hack Russian cameras and Wi-Fi routers.
Within days of Russia’s invasion, Nikita and his fellow cyberwarriors discussed future plans via Telegram. They discussed how to attack Russian cyberspace without compromising morality. The cyber forces are entering the arena with the stated goals of telling the Russians the truth about the war in Ukraine and making things as difficult as possible for the Russian forces and others. IT Army is the name of the most popular hacktivist (hacking and activism) group. (IT Army) It has around 250,000 followers on Telegram.
∙ Platform of interest to students
Students are the most enthusiastic users of HackerMom. What makes Hackermom a favorite among students is that unlike educational institutes that only teach theories, Hackermom’s approach is practical. It also gives you an opportunity to test what you have learned. Meanwhile, Nikita is not ready to reveal how many people are using his website. However, the HackerMom Telegram channel has around 10,000 members. Then we can only assume that is the number of unofficial cyber warriors of Ukraine.
Nikita is also trying to bring cyber security and education together. He says the government has failed to take such a step. Only 19 of Ukraine’s 250 universities offer cyber security as a subject. Even those in these spaces are looking to make money by selling their skills to foreign companies. Globally, the demand for cyber security experts has increased by 40 percent in the last year alone. At the same time, HackerMom allows students to study and practice together.
∙ Are the attacks unleashed by hacktivists ethical?
Many studies suggest that the IT Army and others are violating existing cyber laws. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government and Nikita say they do not encourage cyber attacks. They do not encourage people to commit cyber attacks. Nikita argues that they are only giving them weapons and that it is up to the individuals to decide whether to attack or not.
∙ Nikita that they have the right to carry out cyber attacks
At the same time, Nikita says that Ukraine has the right to launch cyber attacks against Russia. Because Russian military attacks are causing so much damage to the country. He says it would be foolish not to attack your enemy in cyberspace. At the same time, the Russians are also conducting cyber attacks. Nikita’s website itself is under constant attack. For example, in a DDOS attack on July 5 alone, the Russians made 6.9 million requests to the site within 24 hours.
∙ Special section to teach cyber attacks
An entire section of HackerMom is devoted to teaching how to conduct cyberattacks. With the help of open-source intelligence, it teaches how to find the soldier who attacked them, how to install software on a computer to carry out a DDoS attack.
∙ Enjoy invading Russia
Ukraine, Nikita says, was a place for Russian hackers to try out the lessons they had learned in the past. But now Russia has become a playground for pro-Ukraine hackers and everyone can enjoy attacking Russia, he says. Apart from this, learning how to conduct cyber attacks has another benefit. These cyber soldiers can also defend against any cyber attack against Ukraine.
English Summary: How one Ukrainian ethical hacker is training ‘cyber warriors’ in the fight against Russia