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From Russia and then against Russia: Telegram’s role in the war in Ukraine

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From Russia and then against Russia: Telegram’s role in the war in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine is making it happen a strange thing, in addition to many ugly and dramatic things. The strange thing is that an app born and developed in Russia is proving to be a very effective weapon against the Russians.

That app is Telegram, and in recent days as well its creator, the Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, had invited Ukrainians to use it to exchange messages, guaranteeing security and confidentiality. Not that there was any need: since the start of the conflict, the number of people enrolled in groups that talk about it has grown 100 times a day, with some groups reaching 200,000 users; every day dozens of groups are born that try to organizing cyberattacks against Russia, with some having over 250,000 members; groups that organize fundraising to support Ukraine are also increasing, even if not all of them are reliable and sincere.

The numbers come from the researchers of Check Point Software, an Israeli company active in cybersecurity, which divided its analysis into 3 parts: groups that urge followers to cyber attacks against Russia; groups that raise funds to support Ukraine, often of dubious reliability; groups that provide news, whether true or falsetrying to bypass the media.

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The invitation to DDoS attacks

As explained by Check Point, the (many) groups that have been opened since the beginning of the war reunite hacker, information technology professionals and simple technology enthusiasts. Over 20% of these contain invitations to cyber attacks against the Russians, also with indications on which targets to hit and advice on how to carry them out. using the DDoS technique (things?) or even text messages, which as we have already explained on Italian Tech, they can turn into a dangerous weapon in the hands of cyber pirates.

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The invitation to use DDoS attacks in a group on Telegram

The telephone numbers of some Russian activists, to be used for sms-based attacks

The (fake) collections of money

Another case is that of the groups used to appeal to donate funds for Ukraine and its population: according to Check Point, “many of these requests are probably false”, but they reach tens of thousands of people, increasing in number since the beginning of the fighting. At the moment, the estimate is that around 4% of all groups present on Telegram are oriented towards obtaining donations (including through cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum) for one or the other side of the conflict.

The counter-information

Finally, there are the groups that provide alternative information to official channels and traditional press organs, as it already happened (and still happens) for the coronavirus: some claim to report “unpublished and uncensored news from war zones”, have a constant stream of updates and even show videos that newspapers avoid spreading due to their content.

In these cases, as already in those linked to the pandemic, it is worth remembering that these news are not always verified and perhaps they are used to influence public opinion and persuade it to take a position on one side or the other.

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Check Point’s advice: how to defend yourself

As always, in short, even here the saying goes “trusting is good but not trusting is better”: one of the recommendations of the Israeli cybersecurity experts is precisely to obtain information and seek news through reliable sources.

That’s not all, because it would also be better to remember to:

  • non click on links that have unknown originsbecause, especially in these difficult times, attackers could exploit the situation to try to steal credentials, data and other personal information through malware or phishing;

  • fare pay attention to the proposals you receivebecause if a message from an unknown sender makes a request that seems strange or suspicious, it probably hides a trap;

  • better do not send money to unknown people and instead do so through the official websites of recognized organizations.

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