Ukraine said it has detained a suspected "hacker" who was allegedly aiding Russian troops technologically.- The person was helping
Russia send text messages to Ukrainian forces urging them to surrender, the Security Service of Ukraine said.
Ukraine's top law-enforcement agency said on Tuesday that it has detained a suspected "hacker" who was allegedly aiding Russian troops technologically in the eastern European country and helping Russia send text messages to Ukrainian forces urging them to surrender.
The accused hacker, who was not identified, also allegedly helped the Russian military send "commands and instructions" through mobile phone networks "to advanced groups of Russian invaders" in Ukraine amid Russia's more than two week war with the country, the Security Service of Ukraine said in a Facebook post.
Through the alleged hacker, Russian forces "made anonymous phone calls from Russia to the mobile phones of the invaders in Ukraine" and "sent SMS to Ukrainian security officers and civil servants with proposals to surrender and side with the occupiers," the government agency said.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine, "up to a thousand calls" were made through the suspected hacker in one day, with many of the calls from the "top leadership" of the Russian army.
"The collaborator has been detained so far, all his equipment has been confiscated," the Ukrainian security service said. "The perpetrator was declared a suspect."
The law enforcement agency explained that the man "will be held accountable with all the severity of the law."
"The blood of tens or even hundreds of killed Ukrainians is on his hands," the security service said, adding, "We continue to work! Glory to Ukraine!"
The Russian army has been targeting Ukraine's communication systems during its invasion as Ukrainian forces put up fierce resistance to Russian invaders.
Meanwhile, Cathal McDaid, the chief technology officer at the cybersecurity firm AdaptiveMobile, told Motherboard that Ukraine's disclosure about the alleged hacker "adds a bit of depth to the question as to why the Ukrainian mobile networks are still up — they still have some utility to Russian forces."
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched Russia's war against Ukraine on February 24, attacking several cities with military strikes.
Insider's live blog of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is covering developments as they happen.
Translations by Oleksandr Vynogradov.