Hacking!
A very small word but both its significance and importance are immense. Hackers have the power to destroy a person's life. It is possible to do immense damage to an entire nation. Only through this hacking. What is the example of Bangladesh Bank theft? By sending spam mails and taking control of the server, these hackers transferred thousands of crores of rupees to some foreign bank accounts by exploiting the government holiday period. Some of the money has been brought back, but most of it has not been traced.
If you saw the hacking scenes in South Indian movies and thought that the crackhead who dropped out of the university is sitting in front of the computer day and night for some reason, then you are living in a fool's paradise. Yes, it is not that such hackers do not exist. The number of independent hackers is also not less in the world. But those who have turned hacking into an industry across the world, who have established a reign of terror as hackers, have become the names of iconic fear for various organizations. Most of them have state support behind them. And among the countries in the world that invest the most governmentally in hackers, Russia will be at the top. And so the American president himself went along with the Russian hackers. Let me tell you a little information. Donald Trump was elected as the President of America after winning the vote in 2016. He lost the election to Hillary. During the campaign, the sex step, Islamophobia, immigration dispute, etc. were under constant criticism. Trump's campaign was left reeling when Hillary Clinton's email scandal while secretary of state resurfaced, and Trump's lead in the polls was back. Hillary used private email for government work while Secretary of State. Thirty thousand emails were leaked by a hacker team.
Interestingly, four months before the emails were leaked, Trump called on Russia to hack Hillary's emails. Hillary's political party, the Democrat Party, alleged that the Russian government had hacked Hillary's emails. Although Russia did not admit that accusation, but at the end of the day, when looking for the reason behind Hillary's bones, the Mails scandal is kept at the top till now. American President Joe Biden had a meeting with Vladimir Putin in June 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. Russia's relationship with America has always been strained. Relations with Democrats are worse. However, by breaking the distance wall, Biden offered Putin something. He said that even though the relationship between the two countries is bad, important infrastructure and institutions should be kept out of violence. That is, if Russia and America are involved in a war, then the hackers of one country should not attack the Federal Reserve Bank, stock market or traffic and health systems of the other country. Biden coldly threatened that America will not be silent if something like this happens. Putin, however, did not keep that request of Biden. He did not care about his threats. But one thing is clear from the whole discussion. America itself is also concerned about the rampage of Russian hackers. A month after the meeting of Biden and Putin, the websites of some important organizations serving various agencies of the American government were hacked. This supply chain hacking was just one of a series of major cyber attacks on US companies.
Ransomware was used to attack IT services provider Keysia and its clients. Initial indications indicate that the data of hundreds of commercial organizations was compromised in this attack. These attacks of hackers were different in terms of tactics. But there was one important similarity between each of them. Every attack goes to Russia to find the source. Russia-based cybercrime syndicate REVL also claimed responsibility for the attack. The hackers demanded seven million dollars to recover the data of the affected business. In May last year, Russian hackers attacked one of the largest fuel supply lines in the United States. Forty-five percent of the total fuel oil supplied to the eastern part of the country is dependent on the pipeline of this company. To prevent data theft, the United States shut down the 5,500-mile long line that supplies forty-five percent of the fuel going to the East. Hackers attacked Colonial Pipeline's corporate computer network with a ransomware attack. After grabbing a large amount of information, they hold the important information hostage until the ransom is paid. That is why the entire system was shut down for several hours.
A Russian-speaking hacker group named Dark Side did this hacking. The BBC's research revealed several facts about this hacker group. They have a website that is not accessible to common people. This site on the dark web is running the dark side like a business. As soon as a cyber attack is carried out on an organization, dark sites hang a notice on their website. They also sent an information pack to the people of the affected institutions. That pack contains a list from which it is possible to know which types of files have been stolen and encrypted. They have been posted on some site and will be leaked if no ransom is paid. Darksite works exactly like a commercial enterprise. They are developing the necessary tools to steal and encrypt data. If anyone wants to join them, they are also provided with training. Useful tool kit is provided during training which includes useful software for hacking. A sample email sent to a victim of hacking and the rules of hacking attack. Provided that a portion of the ransom earned after successful hacking is to be paid to the dark side. In July last year, a group of hackers carried out a cyber attack on the computer network of JBS, the world's largest meat processing company. The attack is believed to have been carried out from Russia. More than 150,000 employees work at JBS around the world. IT systems are an essential part of modern meat processing centers. Due to the cyber attack, JBS operations in Australia, Canada and the United States were announced temporarily. As a result, due to shortage in the supply of meat, the price of meat at the consumer level increased quite a bit. The issue was discussed directly with Russia from the White House. Later hackers return the hacked website.
Also, in May last year, another Russian hacking company, Napoleon, launched a cyber attack targeting some US government agencies, King Tank consulting firms and NGOs. At least a quarter of the organizations that became the target of the attack are related to international development, humanitarian issues and human rights work, even Nobelium's hackers were able to get into the email account associated with a campaign of USAID, the United States International Development Agency, and from there started phishing attacks on many other organizations. Buy knows the history of America's hostility with Iran. Russian hackers used to attack various American institutions by breaking their name in agreement with those Iranian hackers. Russian-based hacker group Tulla was conducting oil rig operations in Iranian and hacker groups through compromise, according to a joint intelligence report of America and Britain. Tullah used Iranian systems to collect various types of data and used them to hack. According to the information of the British intelligence agency GHQ, Tulla carried out cyber attacks on thirty-five domestic institutions in eighteen months. Twenty of them were successful. And among these twenty attacks, it was mentioned that there are some institutions in America, Czech Republic, Middle East and Britain.
It is understood why Russian hackers are a threat to America and other countries. Now let's come to the story of how the Russian government gives state support to these hackers. Let's start the story with the thirty-three-year-old Russian computer programmer Alexander Variaria. Viraria thought it was his job to protect people from cyber attacks. But his idea changed when the government asked him to do the opposite, i.e. cyber attack. In 2016, he was suddenly asked to join the military in Russia. Varia did not agree to this proposal and because of this he also understood that he would be in danger. And because of that, he fled Russia and went to Finland with political asylum, where he is now living.
Andrew Ikramer, Moscow correspondent for The New York Times, wrote a report on Russia's counter-recruitment process. There he said Russian army generals redefined war. According to the new definition, war is more than a competition for ammunition. In the interests of the Kremlin, they have included cyber warfare as a central policy. There will be no war over oil in the coming days. There is less chance of fighting over the border. Information will cause war. The more information he has, the more powerful he is.
A coordinated army of trained hackers is needed to enrich that data base. Russia is doing that. America knows there is no way to take Russian hackers seriously. How Russian university students are forced to serve in the armed forces. Those who want to do desk jobs are usually nominated in Science Road. Russia has formed a hacking unit in its army by raising grassroots protests against hacking. Outside of the army, many influential hacking teams have been formed under the umbrella of the government. Who can use another country's air radar system, route traffic system and even gas and oil transportation system. They must be afraid. Pentagon may know how to prevent Russian nuclear bomb. But America is still helpless to the rampage of Russian hackers.
Recent events are showing that reality again and again.
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