In a Hacked Ukrainian App, a Picture of the Future of War

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BY ELIAS GROLL
DECEMBER 22, 2016 - 5:36 PM

Ukrainian artillery forces and the Democratic National Committee have something surprising in common: They were targeted by the same Russian code and spied upon by the same military intelligence unit.

The finding, contained in a report released Thursday by security firm Crowdstrike, provides additional evidence linking hackers working on behalf of the Russian state — in this case, Russian military intelligence, or GRU — with the 2016 digital break-in at the Democratic headquarters. Emails stolen from Democratic Party servers eventually turned up on WikiLeaks and are a central part of what American intelligence officials describe as an effort by Russia to influence the U.S. election in President-elect Donald Trump’s favor.

Thursday’s report provides a direct line between the information operations carried out against American political organizations, and the ongoing armed conflict in eastern Ukraine. It illustrates how hacking represents not just a tool used in propaganda operations but in traditional military engagements.

According to Crowdstrike, a hacking group known Fancy Bear attempted to spy on Ukrainian artillery units by distributing a bogus Android application used for weapons targeting. It is unclear how successful the effort was, but according to the firm, the app had “the potential ability to map out a unit’s composition and hierarchy, determine their plans, and even triangulate their approximate location.”

http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/12/22/in-a-hacked-ukrainian-app-a-picture-of-the-future-of-war/

https://www.crowdstrike.com/wp-content/brochures/FancyBearTracksUkrainianArtillery.pdf