Georgian attacks came from russian criminals
According to an article at The Register the last year’s cyber attacks on Georgia that brought internet traffic to a standstill were carried out by two Russian crime gangs. In some cases with the unwitting help of websites and software companies located in the US. The article relates to a report by the non-profit research group US Cyber Consequences Unit (US-CCU). Thees cyber attacks in August 2008 demonstrated how information warfare looks like.
said the cyber attacks, which coincided with the Russian military’s invasion of Georgia in August 2008, were carried out by two separate groups. The attacks were significant because they made it almost impossible for citizens and officials alike to communicate about what was happening on the ground during the military operation. In all, 11 government websites were attacked by servers and botnets. An additional 43 websites were attacked by civilians that willingly installed the software that spread out its payload. Most civilians came from Rusia, but Ukraine and Latvia were involved as well.
New in this attack was the wider circle of people that take part. It was not only reduced on a few ambitious hackers.
“The report went on to say that the cyber attacks were carried out with little or no direct involvement from the Russian government or military. While there is no evidence computers or networks belonging to the military or government were used in any of the attacks, the report acknowledges that the timing of the attacks, which launched within hours of the Russian military’s invasion, could only have come with a fair amount of cooperation from Russian officials,” is one of the interesting estimates of the article.
This case shows how dificult it is to draw a line between civilians and governments at cyber war. IP traffic is not wearing uniforms. It’s barely possible to assign who stands behind the attack.
