Russia's cyber security strategy

As you've probably heard before, Russia receives a lot of allegations of cyber attacks. This has led to sanctions and even expulsion of Russian diplomats.In this article we give you a look into the world of Russian cyber crimes.

Expertise

There are a lot of Russian computer experts. During Soviet times, the government really pushed for advances in science, technology and programming.After the fall of the USSR in 1991, some talented - but underpaid - programmers turned to cyber crime. This quickly made Russians infamous for credit card theft all around the world.

Cyber warfare

Russia massively relies on its cyber and information warfare skills. Multiple notorious hacking groups are suspected of working for Russia's security services. In 2012 the country's defence ministry instituted its own "cyber units".In 2007 Estonia faced a wave of cyber attacks on its newspapers, banks and government ministries. This was the first substantial cyber attack connected to Russia.The United States claim that Russian military intelligence hackers manipulated the 2016 presidential election. They allegedly hacked into the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign.The recent attack on SolarWinds was supposedly carried out by the SVR, Russia's foreign intelligence service.Do you know Fancy Bear, aka APT28? It is the most famous cyberespionage group. They are involved in dozens of cases. This group is believed to be sponsored by the Russian government.

Sophisticated attacks

The list of supposed Russian attacks is long: a hacking attack on the German parliament in 2015; targeting Ukrainian artillery units between 2014 and 2016; hacking of a French television network in 2015; meddling in US elections in 2016 and 2020, and targeting coronavirus vaccine research institutes in the West in 2020.Experts say that attacks are becoming ever more sophisticated. A lot of operations have already been uncovered but a lot still remain effective.

Fake news

Russia has also been blamed for organizing extensive disinformation campaigns to influence democratic processes in the West and fuel social discord online. They are believed to be operating online "troll factories" that create fake viral information in an attempt to influence internet users.

Denial

The Kremlin has always denied any involvement, as they realise cyber attacks are difficult to trace. They even accuse the West of waging a disinformation war on Russia. The country keeps repeating its desire to cooperate in the cyber sphere.Source