According to recent media reports the Kremlin is engaged in a sustained campaign to stifle online speech. Specifically, the following websites of opposition parties and organizations critical of the Kremlin have recently come under attack:
• The National Bolshevik party says its Web sites were repeatedly hacked throughout February and April 2007.
• The website for Kommersant, a major daily newspaper, was attacked in early May 2007.
• The website for Ekho Moskvy, a liberal Moscow radio station, was also attacked in early May 2007.
• The Web site for Russia’s United Civil Front, run by Garry Kasparov, was attacked in mid 2007.
• The website for Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations was attacked in mid 2007.
While none of the above political parties, media outlets, or organizations have offered hard evidence detailing the Russian government’s involvement in these denial of service (DoS) attacks; many analysts have obliquely questioned the Kremlin’s involvement. For example, Stanislav Belkovsky, a political analyst with contacts at the Kremlin, has stated that associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin are directing the online censorship campaign. Moreover, the reports of these DoS attacks come on the heels of the cyber attacks against Estonia that coincided with Estonia’s dispute with Russia over the removal of a Red Army war memorial statue from Tallin.
Other experts have questioned the Kremlin’s direct role in these attacks. Alan Paller, director of research for the SANS Insititue, cautioned against directly linking the Russian government to the series of DoS attacks. Paller stated, “it’s not about governments, it’s about people who pretend to be speaking for governments.” As DoS attacks do not require a large investment or refined skill set, it is possible for individuals to carry out these attacks without the support of a nation-state.
Online Censorship
While the Russian government’s involvement in these attacks is unclear, it appears that nation-states can easily utilize DoS attacks and other cyber attacks to influence adversaries and achieve strategic goals. As the attacks against various Russian opposition parties and media organizations demonstrate, DoS attacks when properly executed allow a nation-state to covertly and effectively censor its online critics by blocking legitimate users access to the targeted websites.
Other states, such as China and Iran, have chosen a more overt route to censor critics on the Internet. Rather than utilize DoS attacks, these states have instead implemented a robust filtering system that blocks citizens from access to controversial or critical websites.
Economic Embargo
Previous cyber assaults, such as those carried out against Estonia’s online infrastructure, have demonstrated that a large-scale and prolonged campaign of DoS attacks is analogous to a digital embargo. While it is unclear exactly who is responsible for the attacks against Estonia and what the motivation was, it is clear that these attacks caused economic damage. Although the total damage for these attacks has not been calculated publicly, at least one of the targets, Estonia’s Hansabank has stated that it lost at least $1 million as a result of the attacks. Given the number of targets attacked throughout Estonia and the prolonged nature of the campaign it is reasonable to assume that the total cost of these attacks was much greater than $1 million dollars.
Espionage
As demonstrated by the “Titan Rain” attacks (Previous Report), nation-states can also use cyber warfare to conduct a prolonged espionage campaign. Media reports have indicated that China has for years used cyber warfare techniques to spy on the US Department of Defense (DoD) and various defense contractors. This espionage campaign has likely given China a strategic insight into US defense policy and posture.
Certainly, it is theoretically possible for nation-states to use cyber attacks in a variety of other ways, but the above examples demonstrate how nation-states have previously used cyber warfare as a strategic tool to influence adversaries.
