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UKRAINE DISMANTLES 5 DISINFORMATION BOT FARMS, SEIZES 10,000 SIM CARDS

By

BILL TOULAS

 * March 28, 2022
 * 04:23 PM
 * 0

The Ukrainian Security Service (SSU) has announced that since the start of the
war with Russia, it has discovered and shut down five bot farms with over
100,000 fake social media accounts spreading fake news.

The network, which operated in Kharkiv, Cherkasy, Ternopil, and Zakarpattia,
aimed to discourage Ukrainian citizens and instill panic by distributing false
information about the Russian invasion and the status of the defenders.

According to the SSU’s announcement, the goal of the network was to destabilize
the sociopolitical situation in various regions, thus curbing the resistance of
the Ukrainian militia.

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The law enforcement agency in Ukraine raided the locations that hosted the bot
farms and seized the following items:

 * 100 sets of GSM gateways
 * 10,000 SIM cards for various mobile operators to disguise the fraudulent
   activity
 * Laptops and computers used for controlling and coordinating the bots

Terminals with SIM cards emulating distinct users (SSU)

The attribution for the operation points to the Russian special services,
members of which are already facing criminal proceedings under Article 110
(encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine), but no
operator arrests are mentioned in the SSU announcement.

One of the dismantled farms (SSU)


UKRAINE’S CYBER AGENCIES OPERATIONAL

SSU’s website has remained offline several times and for protracted periods
during the past month as the agency faced mounting challenges and had to direct
its focus on deterring a military invasion.

Still, it’s notable and commendable that Ukraine’s cyber-agencies remain
operational, at least to some degree, and publish daily announcements of their
activities.

On Saturday, the Ukrainian cyber-police in the region of Vinnytsia announced the
arrest of a man who was hacking social network accounts through phishing links
and used them to run fake ammunition fundraisers.

Today, the Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine announced the discovery
of a phishing campaign loosely attributed to the UAC-0010 (Armageddon) Russian
threat group.

The campaign uses document lures that supposedly contain information about the
losses of Ukrainian servicemen to drop the “PseudoSteel” malware which enables
its operators to remotely search for local files and upload them to an FTP
server.

All these detection and crackdown efforts of Ukrainian forces signify a new age
in warfare where governments cannot ignore malicious cyber activities.

That’s especially the case for a country that’s still largely online, using the
network for crowd-sourcing information and keeping an open channel of data
exchange with the rest of the world.


RELATED ARTICLES:

Ukraine says local govt sites hacked to push fake capitulation news

Hacktivists, cybercriminals switch to Telegram after Russian invasion

White House shares checklist to counter Russian cyberattacks

More Conti ransomware source code leaked on Twitter out of revenge

BIG sabotage: Famous npm package deletes files to protest Ukraine war


 * Bot Farm
 * Disinformation
 * Fake News
 * Police
 * Russia
 * Ukraine

 * Facebook
 * Twitter
 * LinkedIn

 * Email
 * 



BILL TOULAS

Bill Toulas is a technology writer and infosec news reporter with over a decade
of experience working on various online publications. An open source advocate
and Linux enthusiast, is currently finding pleasure in following hacks, malware
campaigns, and data breach incidents, as well as by exploring the intricate ways
through which tech is swiftly transforming our lives.
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