Systemic cyberattacks in the digital war against Russia

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

We are living in a Cold War period like no other in history. This war has new technologies, new "branches of the armed forces", new strategies and tactics … Cyber troops conduct cyberattacks along the entire information front, using a powerful information tool - social networks. These attacks are carried out systematically, thoughtfully, according to verified targets. According to the principle: in war, all means are good.

The International Multimedia Press Center “Russia Today” held a press conference “Information Warfare Against Russia: Constructing the Image of the Enemy”, during which the journalists were introduced to an analytical report prepared by JSC “Crimbur”, specializing in the study of social media.

A negative image of Russia is being actively formed in the West. It takes root not only in the minds of the most gullible part of the Western population, but also in the minds of Russians, giving them a negative attitude towards their own country, towards its leadership.

“We are talking about the systematic and serious work of our Western“partners”, about an imperceptible war against Russia with many multiplier effects,” said Alexei Mukhin, director of the Center for Political Information, opening the briefing. - There are many of these methods, but they all bear little resemblance to legal ones. And we have to react.

This unnoticed war, unfortunately, is becoming more visible.

The image of the enemy is actively exploited on social networks. Crimbur's analysts have focused on Twitter as the most operational grid.

Everything happens with the help of hashtags, where information is formed and grouped. This informational charge is aimed at social groups, which, in the main, shape public opinion. For example, professional groups or socially disadvantaged groups.

“Not only politicians and representatives of the establishment work with public opinion, but also the military, which is extremely dangerous,” Mukhin specified. - It is no coincidence that we call informational, hybrid wars just that - “war”. The word "war" is key.

Previously, the targets of the information war were Iran and the DPRK, and now such large countries as Russia and China. Experts noted the wave phenomena of "cyberattacks" timed to specific dates.

The first of them is 2014, when the conflict took place in Donbass, and a sanctions war was unleashed against Russia. The second key moment is 2016, when Russia was accused of meddling in President Trump's election campaign. Finally, this is the current year, when the struggle for energy resources has intensified, and Russia is being positioned as an energy power in order to inflict maximum economic damage on us.

Western political strategists have launched a meme of the "Russian hacker" on social networks, realizing that this symbol is easy to imitate anonymously.

"Russian hacker" is a new horror story in the Western information space. She turned out to be sticky, like a bath leaf and, alas, quickly took root. (So in the early 90s the myth of the "Russian mafia" instantly and "forever" took root). I really want to believe what is too lazy to explain to myself. And the image of Russia as an aggressor, including an informational one, alas, is deeply rooted in the minds of an inexperienced Western man in the street, who is much more interested in knowing the name of a butcher in a nearby shop than anything more “sublime”.

Western historians, political scientists, journalists are trampling our victory in World War II with might and main. Their stupidity was passed on to society. This is another target of the informational volley against Russia. And they know where to beat! Into the most sacred.

Alas. We ourselves gave a reason for this, questioning the exploits of our fathers and grandfathers.

- We recently monitored social networks. They were looking for who is to blame for the fact that the especially reverent attitude of Russians to the Great Patriotic War began to be called "victory." It turned out - foreign social networks Twitter and Facebook. There was much less of this in Russian social networks, - said Artem Kuritsyn, an expert at Kribrum JSC.

One of the features of the current information war is, analysts say, that an important (and more often not very important) informational occasion is used for a whole program of anonymous actions. And this program is cynically attributed to Russia. Fake IP addresses are generated. This means that not only foreign special services are involved in this blatant provocation, but also foreign IT companies connected with the special services.

The resonators of such manifestations, noted Aleksey Mukhin, are most often Ukraine and Poland, which is understandable. These countries are extremely dependent on the United States and are ready to take actions that go beyond the legal framework. Everything rests on the absence of an evidence base.

“I foresee that the next targets of attacks will be the social policy of the Russian Federation, the vertical of power in the person of the military, special services and the supreme power,” stressed the director of the Center for Political Information. - It is characteristic that as soon as Russia demands to present evidence, it turns out that there is none. When it turns out that all cyberattacks, for example, on Georgia, Poland, and the Czech Republic came from anonymous IP addresses, this information is simply ignored abroad.

It got to the point that now any Western politician, if he wants to sit “in the saddle,” must, like a parrot, repeat memes about “Russian hackers”, GRU agents, “Novice” …

The goal of the information war is to soften Russia's policy on key issues. In fact, the rejection of national interests, the creation of a complex of political inferiority. Finally, the redevelopment of the world space, proceeding from the interests of the United States and some of its satellites.

The main blow is at the Russian special services. The same thing happened in the 90s. It was after the attacks on our special services that all the verticals of power began to collapse, which led to chaos in the economy, in politics, and in the social sphere.

Alexander Losev, General Director of Sputnik Management Company JSC, quoted the words of the military theorist von Clausewitz, who wrote that the goal of any war is a world comfortable for the victor. Since it is clearly not America's goal to live on ruins in a world of nuclear ash, information weapons are used.

“They will try to capture our consciousness, our control systems. Although a war with the use of tactical nuclear weapons in the United States is also allowed. It is spelled out at the level of doctrinal documents in the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strategy and the Nuclear Forces Strategy,”Losev emphasized.

To create an image of an enemy from Russia, a real information weapon is being used. We can already talk about the emergence of such strategic weapons, which will be used against those whom the United States considers its opponents.

“Recently, the popular video hosting YouTube has blocked three popular Russian resources, including the Krym-24 TV company,” said famous TV and radio host Anna Shafran, one of the main authors of the analytical report, which was presented at the press conference. - Blocked insolently, without warning or explanation. The Russian Foreign Ministry, naturally, protested and quite rightly qualified the incident as an attack on Russian-language resources from the American Internet platform. What's the use?

I believe this is already an open information war. And in war as in war! It is pointless to lament and argue here. What's the use of being indignant about the fact that Facebook on May 9 banned photos of hoisting the red flag over the Reichstag, if Facebook is also an American platform, which also plays by American rules? In the casino, as you know, the croupier always wins, Conclusion: Russia needs to create its own Internet sites and with their help convey its vision of the world to the Western community. We have all the opportunities for this.

Professor of the Military Academy of Sciences Sergei Sudakov drew the attention of journalists to the fact that the United States has stopped playing by the rules in the international arena. According to international rules, which they themselves once established. Now the Americans are suggesting that everyone be guided by some kind of "global law." Upon closer examination, it turns out, however, that this is - American law. A law that exclusively protects the interests of the United States.

- It is fashionable to present Russia as an international information terrorist. We can prove as much as we like with facts in hand that this is not so, but the American liberal mainstream will not allow this truth to penetrate the US information space. Yes, everything that was said in America about Russian chemical attacks in Syria, about interference in the presidential campaign in the United States, was a lie. But a lie repeated a thousand times becomes true. I will not once again pronounce the name of the one who invented this phrase. (Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda of the Third Reich, Nazi war criminal. - Ed.).

The current information war is a continuation and the fruit of a centuries-old dislike for Russia. Dislike, exacerbated against the background of its own weakening of the West, the shift in the center of power, the loss of the unipolarity of the world.

- Information wars have been going on for several hundred years. World War I, World War II, Cold War … The innovation of the current stage of information wars is perhaps in the speed of delivery of information weapons. Nowadays, it hits the head directly from social networks, often bypassing the classic media, - said Alexei Martynov, director of the International Institute of the Newest States. - Notice one more feature of the current moment.

The world is once again divided into "we" and "they". Only "we" now are not ours and the Germans, not the Russians and the Americans. “We” are those who do not fall for all sorts of lies from the virtual space, but want to find out what is really going on around. "They" are social media consumers of disinformation.

Moreover, the distinction between the first and the second does not go along the state borders. It passes through the minds of people in all countries. I communicate a lot with European intellectuals. They say the same thing, maybe a little more streamlined. They are also aware that not only Russia and China, but also the Europeans are becoming the target of US information wars. Recently, a Polish deputy was released from prison. He served three years for having an alternative view of NATO's eastward expansion. It all started with harassment on social networks.

… Yes, the new is the well-forgotten old. In general, is it forgotten? Pushkin is right: "Europe has always been as ignorant as ungrateful in relation to Russia." I must admit - the West has never liked Russia. More precisely, than the great historian Nikolai Danilevsky you cannot say, and therefore I will quote: “The West does not recognize us as its own … Europe therefore sees in Russia and in the Slavs not only alien, but also a hostile principle. No matter how loose and soft the upper, outer, weathered and clay layer turned out to be, Europe nevertheless understands, or, more precisely, instinctively feels that under this surface lies a strong, hard core that cannot be crushed, ground, dissolved - which, therefore, cannot be assimilated to oneself, transformed into one's own blood and flesh, - which has both the strength and the claim to live its own independent, original life … It is difficult for Europe - not to say impossible - to endure this. " It was written in 1869, and how fresh it sounded in the first quarter of the XXI century!

This idea of Danilevsky was reminded to me by the President of the Historical Perspective Foundation, political scientist, diplomat, Doctor of Historical Sciences Natalia Narochnitskaya in our interview with Literaturnaya Gazeta. And she emphasized:

- We thought for a long time that we were not loved for our Soviet past. We were wrong. At all times they didn’t love us because we are - huge, unconquered, independent, original, contradictory, choosing their own, Russian way. (In the West, we have always been called "Russians" regardless of the nationalities inhabiting Russia - the Soviet Union and again - Russia). Remember Tyutchev?

You can't understand Russia with your mind, A common yardstick cannot be measured:

She has a special become -

You can only believe in Russia.

Russia with its "special article" in all epochs was not needed as an independent player in world history. And you cannot ignore us, and you cannot remake us for yourself. This has always irritated the West and annoys, if not infuriates …

As exactly said!