Getting bored of cyberwar: exploring the role of low-level cybercrime actors in the Russia-Ukraine conflict

Anh V. Vu, Daniel R. Thomas, Ben Collier, Alice Hutchings, Richard Clayton, Ross Anderson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution book

1 Citation (Scopus)
9 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

There has been substantial commentary on the role of cyberattacks carried out by low-level cybercrime actors in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. We analyse 358k website defacement attacks, 1.7M UDP amplification DDoS attacks, 1764 posts made by 372 users on Hack Forums mentioning the two countries, and 441 Telegram announcements (with 58k replies) of a volunteer hacking group for two months before and four months after the invasion. We find the conflict briefly but notably caught the attention of low-level cybercrime actors, with significant increases in online discussion and both types of attacks targeting Russia and Ukraine. However, there was little evidence of high-profile actions; the role of these players in the ongoing hybrid warfare is minor, and they should be separated from persistent and motivated 'hacktivists' in state-sponsored operations. Their involvement in the conflict appears to have been short-lived and fleeting, with a clear loss of interest in discussing the situation and carrying out both website defacement and DDoS attacks against either Russia or Ukraine after just a few weeks.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationWWW '24: Proceedings of the ACM on Web Conference 2024
Pages1596–1607
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9798400701719
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 May 2024
EventWWW '24: The ACM Web Conference 2024 - Singapore
Duration: 13 May 202417 May 2024

Conference

ConferenceWWW '24: The ACM Web Conference 2024
CitySingapore
Period13/05/2417/05/24

Keywords

  • Russia-Ukraine conflict
  • DDoS attacks
  • website defacement attacks
  • cybercrime
  • cyberwar
  • volunteer hacktivists
  • IT Army of Ukraine

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