The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said it has detained a “hacker” who offered technical assistance to the invading Russian troops by providing mobile communication services inside the Ukrainian territory.
An anonymous suspect was accused of sending text messages to Ukrainian officials (security officers, civil servants) proposing they give up their positions and join Russia. He is also accused of sending phone calls from Russia via the phones of Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
“Up to a thousand calls were made through this hacker in one day. Many of them are from the top leadership of the enemy army,” the SBU alleged, adding it confiscated the equipment that was used to pull off the operation.
The agency also indicted the hacker for allowing Russia to make anonymous calls to military units based in Ukraine. It said that the hacker had given instructions and commands to various groups of “Russian Invaders.” “
“He is going to be accountable for the full severity of the law. It is blood from dozens, if not hundreds, of Ukrainians who have been killed,” the translation of this announcement reads.
News of the detainment comes as a third strain of data-wiping malware dubbed “CaddyWiper” has been observed in attacks against several dozen systems in a limited number of organizations in Ukraine, close on the heels of HermeticWiper and IsaacWiper coinciding with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last month.
In a separate incident, Reuters last week reported of a cyber attack that disrupted broadband satellite internet access in Ukraine on February 24 between 5 a.m. and 9 a.m. EET, right around the time Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of the country. The digital sabotage crippled satellite modems that are part of Viasat’s KA-SAT network.
