TechLetters #68 Ukraine cyberwarfare. Destructive cyberattacks vs satellite communication. Face recognition tech used in war. Flying drones and Facebook/Instagram war Terms of Service changes
Security
Russian/Belarusian cyberwarfare. Activity attempts in context of war on Ukraine. Seems that phishing is the goto technique even in armed conflict... This includes cyberattacks on addresses of Polish e-mail provider. In use a publicly available backdoor.
Destructive cyberattack on satellite internet infrastructure/terminals. Done on the day of invasion of Ukraine. ~40k terminals affected. Reports of destroyed, bricked terminals. Modems must be replaced. Analyses: here, here.
Chinese cyber groups increase cyber intelligence operations in Europe. Tracking pixels (“technique” well known from privacy research) in use.
China accuses USA of hacking their system. And then using them in cyberattacks Belarus, Russia, Ukraine. Well, if it’s apparently about DDoS, so not that important.
Another key Toyota supplier targeted with a cyberattack (ransomware). Stolen "157,000 purchase orders, emails, sketches, 1.4 terabytes of data".
Privacy
Ukraine uses Clearview's face recognition during war. Unclear how. But among the potential uses: "vet people of interest at checkpoints", "help identify the dead more easily than trying to match fingerprints", "identify Russian operatives". Important to be wary of false positives...
Technology Policy
Facebook/Instagram temporarily allow calls for violence against Russians. Including allowing posts calling for the death of, for example, Putin. They suspend their terms of service/rules in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland. Highlights the limits of content moderation
Other
Drone from Ukraine warzone flew ~560km, unnoticed, through airspace of 3 NATO members. Russian-made, but unclear whose it was. Ukraine is currently the only known user, but who knows whose it was ... Interestingly, NATO not speaking. "it was an accident"? The way it was handled by air defence is going to be controversial.
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