Ukraine War: Over 300,000 Volunteer Hackers Come Together To Fight Russia, Says Report

More than 300,000 volunteer hackers are helping Ukraine win the cyber war against Russia. On a Telegram group called "IT Army of Ukraine", these volunteers are assigned tasks designed to target Russian websites.

These hackers have joined the fight from Ukraine's side to level the playing field, as many cyber security firms report "cyber chaos" amid Russia-Ukraine fight.

Check Point Research (CPR), which tracks global cyber attacks, said that in the first three days after the launch of Russian invasion, online attacks against Ukrainian military and governmental sectors increased by 196 per cent. It also said that the attacks increased moderately against Russia (by 4 per cent) and reduced in other parts of the world.

Russia has, however, denied any involvement in the cyber attacks.

The surge in number of volunteer hackers joining the fight against Russia took place after a request from Ukraine's Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov last month, who posted the link to Telegram channel "IT Army of Ukraine" on Twitter.

We are creating an IT army. We need digital talents. All operational tasks will be given here: https://t.co/Ie4ESfxoSn. There will be tasks for everyone. We continue to fight on the cyber front. The first task is on the channel for cyber specialists.

— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 26, 2022

The members of this group spoke to The Guardian and said that is the right thing to do. One such volunteer, a teenager from Switzerland who did not reveal his real name, said they are trying to paralyse the digital presence of the Russian government and the Belarussian railway.

Another member of the group, Gennady Galanter, told CNBC that they are preventing disinformation and getting accurate information to Russian citizens.

“The reality is that a lot of my friends in Russia, my relatives… they're completely misinformed,” CNBC quoted him as saying.

All these volunteer hackers fear retaliation from Russia, hence are trying to keep their identity guarded as much as possible.

NetBlocks, a company that monitors global internet connectivity, said these cyber attackers have been successful in disrupting websites of state-owned media services, several banks and energy giant Gazprom in Russia.