How Russia Leverages the Dark Web to Assault Ukraine

Russia is conducting a cyber assault against Ukraine, which may paralyze communications and devastate Ukraine's battle momentum. Hop on this spectacular new narrative which talks about how Russia is using the Dark Web to launch an attack on Ukraine! 🕶⚠🛡💻

• Everyone is familiar with the rumors regarding the Dark Web's real hitmen for hire. People are murdered in front of a live audience in Red Rooms. Markets online where you can buy chemicals and grenades. What you'll hear today, however, is factual; the majority of that is just legend. Hackers from Russia and Ukraine are currently fighting it out in the most secretive area of the Internet. Let's first clarify a few points before talking about this clandestine conflict. Some of you may already be aware of the Dark Web, a small area of the internet where users occasionally go if they want to avoid being discovered. A small portion of the deep web is the dark web. Around 96 to 99 percent of the Internet is made up of the deep web.
• The deep web contains your Gmail account. People can't search for it because it isn't indexed. As a result of public websites being indexed, you can search for them. They are in the "Clear Web," a relatively small area of the Internet in comparison to the "Deep Web." Nobody really knows how much of the Deep Web is taken up by the Dark Web, but 5 have been suggested as a rough estimate. If you're looking for something different, check out the Dark Web. You can download the Tor network to accomplish that. It is simple. Once you've done that, you won't see domains ending in .com but rather .onion. This alludes to the onion-like layers of anonymity you can find on the Dark Web.
• In other words, when using the standard web, your IP address is not hidden. You can remain anonymous when using the Tor network. As one user explained, Tor routes your traffic sequentially through three random nodes. The traffic is also encrypted each time it passes through a node. So, no one can find you. For this reason, Tor was established by the US Department of Defense in the 1990s. People who wanted to remain anonymous, like spies, found it useful. Additionally, it might support journalists or activists who risk imprisonment or even death for what they post online. Additionally, it can be used by nations to wage war on one another, as Russia is doing with Ukraine.
• Some people only use it to access the BBC or Facebook. The New York Times once established a secure location on the Dark Web where individuals with information about corporate or governmental wrongdoing could come forward. Additionally, a large number of people from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the Netherlands purchase their drugs on the dark web. Credit card data is sometimes bought or sold. Some of them deal in a type of pornography that you might not find on the open internet, such as counterfeit goods or even guns. But today, we're going to concentrate on a specific Dark Web activity where it appears that Russians and Ukrainians excel.
• Russian hackers using the Dark Web may already be well known to you. Several of them recently threatened to release stolen data at the Methodist McKinney Hospital in the United States. Although it's unclear if all the hackers were Russian, cyber security experts reported that 50 hospitals in the US had already experienced similar attacks in 2022. They employ a fairly straightforward method of operation. They may hack the network of a large or even very large company, and by encrypting the data, they may prevent the company from accessing its own network. A pipeline company in the US experienced this not long ago; to regain access to their systems, the company paid a ransom of $5 million.
• The business, which supplied a sizable portion of the US, claimed it was forced to make payments. The other option would have been complete chaos. DarkSide was the name of the group of hackers, and ransomware was their area of expertise. Though it was initially believed that they were Russian, some have speculated that they are a mixed group, possibly hailing from Iran, North Korea, and other Eastern European nations in addition to Russia. If true, the US would have serious concerns. To strengthen US cyber defenses, President Joe Biden recently signed an executive order. Later, DarkSide claimed that all they wanted was the money.
• They had absolutely no political affinities. No one should suffer harm, they thought. They claimed to have hacking ethics, in fact. According to them, they won't hack into hospitals or schools. They don't want to hurt the general public. They want to hit large corporations where it counts—on their profits. What could a nation do if it was determined to cause havoc? What if the black hats enlisted to fight in a war? What if they were recruited and ready to do proper damage? It's not just about causing issues with infrastructure, either. You have to wonder if a group of regular guys or girls can do such a thing to a major pipeline company and potentially disrupt the lives of millions of people in the US.
• The Internet of Things now includes weapons, so imagine if they were able to access government systems, and, Lord of Hosts, imagine if they were able to access weapon systems. It's ironic that as weapons become more intelligent, their owners become more vulnerable to harm. Cybersecurity professionals are more aware of this threat than the majority of us. Some of them are currently concerned about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that is occurring on the Dark Web. Nobody controls the dark web like the Russian-speaking world, a company that provides services to the US government recently told The New Statesman. It goes without saying that the Russian government would seek out and hire individuals on the Dark Web, preferably members of their own family, perhaps like DarkSide.
• By hacking into the military, hospitals, or infrastructure, they could probably make a huge mess in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin would undoubtedly enjoy speaking with them. But as you are aware, some or even the majority of hackers follow a set of morals, or, in your words, a code of criminality. According to the New Statesman article, this unofficial code prohibits developing tools or selling embarrassing information that could harm any CIS country. These are the former Soviet republics that make up the Commonwealth of Independent States. However, it appears that since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, things have changed. The hackers, who in the past might have been thought to have no interest in politics, are now becoming political.
• On the Dark Web, a Russian hacker collective by the name of Conti published something indicating their willingness to participate in this conflict. They proclaimed their unwavering support for Russia and added that they would retaliate by attacking an adversary's vital infrastructure if it were ever hacked. When Conti was accused of actually working for the Russian government, they published a second message on the Dark Web claiming they had no connection to Putin or any other Russian government official. However, they argued that it was their responsibility to strike back if the Russian people were hacked in a negative way. The Conti Team is formally announcing that we will use our full capability to deliver punitive measures in case the Western warmongers attempt to target critical infrastructure in Russia or any Russian-speaking region of the world.
• Allow them to explain in their own words because what they said is quite intriguing. We oppose the ongoing war and have no allegiance to any particular administration. However, given that the West is known for using civilians as a primary target in its war efforts, we will use our resources to fight back if American cyber aggression puts the health and safety of law-abiding citizens in danger.