Meta (Facebook) has just announced the dismantling of several cyberattacks carried out by Russia and Belarus. The American group mentions in particular several attempts to hack Facebook accounts belonging to Ukrainian soldiers, the aim being then to use them to broadcast videos calling for surrender.
As you know, Russia and Belarus have increased cyberattacks against Ukraine since the start of the conflict. The country is the regular target of terrible malware, like the Wiper which has targeted the PCs of many institutions by erasing all the recorded data in the process.
However, Meta (Facebook) has just announced this Friday, April 8, 2022 the dismantling of several disinformation operations and piracy carried out by Russia and its allies. In its quarterly report on “hostile operations” carried out by States or private groups on its servicesthe American group explains that it has detected and stopped several Russian cyberattacks.
Meta states that it has identified several attempts to hacking of Facebook accounts belonging to Ukrainian soldiers. This operation, led by the Belarusian group GhostWriter, aimed to seize these accounts to then distribute fake videos calling on the Ukrainian army to surrender. Meta ensures that the compromised accounts have been deleted and the distribution of these videos blocked.
Meta stops several Russian hacking attempts
The social network then announces that it has spotted another series of disinformation operations led this time by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a branch of the Russian intelligence services specializing in disinformation on social networks. This group notably distinguished itself during the American presidential elections in 2016.
The IRA has notably developed fake sites and used fake social media accounts to spread fake news about the war in Ukraine. “In January and February 2022, their site published articles on police violence in Western countries, attributing responsibility for the Russian attack to NATO, and accusing the Ukrainian army of deliberately targeting civilians”. details Meta.
Furthermore, Meta announces that it has deleted around fifty Facebook pages who coordinated to mass report accounts and pages that were particularly critical of Russia. The goal is to lead to their removal. As a reminder, the United States announced yesterday that it had countered a world-class cyberattack by removing Russian malware that had infiltrated numerous systems/networks around the world.
Source: The world
