This morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordereda special operation, allowing armed forces to move into Ukraine.
The offensive wasnt just limited to military forces, as Ukraine faced major internet disruptions.
In this story, well aim to summarize how information flow in the war-affected country has taken a hit.
As such, users wouldnt be able to access these critical sites in the midst of this crisis.
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Later in the night, researchers from security firmESETsaid thousands of computers in Ukraine were under a malware attack.
They found that this data wiper malware was aimed at corrupting data and taking over servers.
Currently, this attack is not being attributed to a particular threat actor.
Breaking.#ESETResearchdiscovered a new data wiper malware used in Ukraine today.
ESET telemetry shows that it was installed on hundreds of machines in the country.
It isnt clear if the infrastructure was damaged by shelling.
The tweet describes this as happening after explosions were heard in the city.
Misinformation and Telegrams role in it
Telegram is one ofthe most popular communication channelsinRussia and Ukraine.
One of the examples is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskys recent address to the people of Russian through Telegram.
Freelance reporterJustin Lingtweeted that several pro-Kremlin channels are justifying Russias invasion as steps to denazify Ukraine.
This statement doesnt make sense, as Ukraine is led bya Jewish non-nazi president.
However,Bellingcatfound from the metadata that the video was created two days prior.
Notably, false information is not limited to Telegram.
Outlets frombothcountriesare freely tweeting doctored info masquerading as news, and that could lead to confusion regarding the situation.
Kiev Post now spreading disinformation!
This is not a Russia Air Force fighter shot down.
Internet shutdowns or service breakdowns in those regions could have devastating effects.
Experts noted that Russia could target the countrys telecommunication services to create an information blackout.
However, given that Ukraine has more than 2,000 internet service providers, it could be a difficult task.
Reutersreported that as a part of these sanctions, it could prohibit US-based companies from providing services to Russia.
That could halt sales of future devices and cloud services that are critical for tech infrastructure.
Well update this story as the situation develops.
That’s one heck of a mixed bag.
He likes to say “Bleh.
That’s one heck of a mixed bag.
He likes to say “Bleh.”
