Ukrainian Security Service: Russia to continue using cyberattacks as instrument of hybrid warfare
Russia will continue to use cyberattacks as an instrument of geopolitical influence, said Oleh Frolov, Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), during the first UN High-Level Conference on Counter-Terrorism in New York.
“A series of powerful and complex cyberattacks, ruthless by design and catastrophic in their possible consequences, on the computer networks of the energy, banking and transport sectors and the communications sector, have once more demonstrated the aggressor’s intention to use cyberattacks as an instrument of geopolitical influence,” Frolov stated.
One of the key components of Russia’s hybrid aggression against Ukraine has been propaganda, which laid the groundwork for the deployment of an entire arsenal of other classical and non-classical methods of warfare, including the use of armed opposition groups, the initiation of local riots, as well as cyberattacks and economic pressure. The internet is used to spread a radical ideology, recruit supporters, and finance illegal activity related to terrorism.
The Ukrainian delegation’s report also speaks of the need for an international consolidation of efforts in the fight against terrorism and violent extremism.
“It’s important to understand that these phenomena are in very different directions, the forms and methods of such activity are constantly developing, depending on the tasks which terrorist organizations and individual pariah countries set for themselves,” Frolov observed in his speech at the forum.
The deputy SBU chairman assured the forum participants that Ukraine completely supports the use of information and communication technologies exclusively for the purpose of development in accordance with the UN Charter.
“Constructive international dialogue, based on the principles of mutual trust and the respect of international law, are a pledge to prevent and oppose the illegal use of information technologies for terrorist purposes,” Frolov emphasized.
Earlier the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine advocated the development of a cybernetic shield for Ukraine.