Large numbers of Russian university students being taught hacking – Ukraine's Security Service

Russia is developing and extending its entire cyber-aggression system on a national level, and students at Russian universities are being recruited.

Source: Illia Vitiuk, Head of the Cyber-Security Department at the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), in an interview for Forbes Ukraine

Vitiuk said the SSU has documents containing information about the upscaling of Russia’s entire cyber-aggression system, which has existed since at least 2016, on a national level. As part of this state initiative, reserve officers from Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) and the Federal Security Service (FSB) teach students how to conduct cyber-offensive actions at technical or military universities. After finishing their studies, the most able students may be hired by state intelligence bodies or the security services.

During their studies, the students may be involved in creating software and studying the logistics, power and water supply systems of different countries, particularly Ukraine.

"No other country in the world systematically teaches people to be hackers. Russia started with universities and will gradually roll this out to schools too," Vitiuk explained.

He added that billions of roubles have been invested in Russian cyber-attacks, an amount that continues to grow.

Vitiuk reported that during the two years of the full-scale war, the SSU have documented and repelled 9,000 cyber-attacks, 4,500 in each year.

Background:

• On 12 December 2023, during one of the most recent mass cyber-attacks in Ukraine, the country's largest mobile operator, Kyivstar, was targeted, leaving 24 million users without a connection. The SSU assumed that the Russians were behind the attack.
• Yurii Prokopenko, who was responsible for cyber-security at Kyivstar, later resigned by mutual agreement, but said his decision had nothing to do with the attack, explaining that "people sometimes burn out".
• Dutch company VEON, the owner of Kyivstar, said the cyber-attack and network failure in December 2023 caused nearly US$100 million worth of damage.

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