Real 'Cyber War': Espionage, DDoS, Leaks, and Wipers in the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

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Presented at BlackHat USA 2022 by

Juan Hegel

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has included a wealth of cyber operations that have tested our collective assumptions about the role that cyber plays in modern warfare. The concept of 'Cyber War' has been subject to all kinds of fantastic aberrations fueled by commentators unfamiliar with the realities and constraints of real world cyber. From the beginning of 2022, we have dealt with at least seven strains of wiper malware targeting Ukraine. The latest wiper was used to attack satellite modems with suspected spillover into critical infrastructure in Western Europe. Before this, nation-state wiper malware was relatively rare and this period of abundance is teaching us a great deal about the effects attackers can('t) have during military operations and what we should realistically expect in an era of hybrid warfare with cyber components.