US President Barack Obama has ordered a probe against the recently concluded US 2016 elections to find whether Russia was involved in influencing & favoring Donald Trump to win the US Presidential chair.
Going into the history, the Russian Government has carried out many such significant cyber attacks on foreign countries in the past.
NBC News has compiled a below list of some of the most- buzzing cyber attacks carried out on other nations by Russia either to sow some chaos to destabilize the nation on a political note or to project its federal power.
In May 2007, the media started to report that tiny nation Estonia was the latest victim of Russia’s cyber attack. The said nation was a part of Soviet Union until 1991 and planned to move a Russian World War II memorial and Russian Soldiers graves. Russia retaliated to the decision of Estonia by temporarily disabling the web services to/from Estonia. The cyber attack was launched in the form of DDOS attacks which focused on Government offices and financial institutions.
In June 2008, Russia launched a cyber attack on Lithuania which was a former possession of Baltic. As Lithuania chose to outlaw the display of soviet symbols the espionage was carried out by a hacking group from Russia who defaced the government websites in Lithuania with symbols such as a hammer, sickles, and 5 pointed stars.
In August 2008, Russia attacked Georgia for sending troops into a breakaway republic backed by Moscow. The attack was carried out by land, sea and air units and also included a cyber attack which disrupted the entire web services of Georgia. This was the first coordinated military and cyber action from Russia.
In January 2009, Russia asked Kyrgyzstan to leave American Military base. As the latter denied doing so, Russia launched a cyber attack on the nation disrupting two of the country’s 4 ISP with a DDOS attack. As soon as Kyrgyzstan left the military base of United States, Kremlin-sanctioned a $2 billion aid as a loan to the nation- probably as compensation for its suffering.
In August 2009, Russian hackers chose to shut down the services of Twitter and Facebook in Georgia to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the Russian Invasion.
In May 2014, a state-sponsored hacking group from Russia hacked the database of Ukraine Election Commission. This happened exactly after 72 hours of the National elections of Ukraine. The severity of the attack was in such a way that the nation’s backup systems were also disrupted in the said cyber espionage. The attack was launched in retaliation to the loss of a presidential candidate who was in favor of Russian government.
In March 2014, when Russian Pro rebels chose to seize control of Crimea, Russia launched a DDoS attack on Georgia. The attack was a coordinated action of Russian military and cyber teams.
In May 2015, Germany accused Russia of intercepting its computer network off Germany Bundestag. And since, September 2016, Germany has been accusing Russia of hacking its web services on a consistent note. The nation also fears that its National Elections of 2017 will also be influenced by Russia.
In December 2015, Russian hackers took control of a Ukrainian power station, locking controllers out of their own systems and shutting down to power to more than 235,000 homes.
From June 2015 to November 2016, many major news sources such as Reuters, NBC, BBC are accusing Russian for penetrating into the networks of many US Democratic Party leaders to gain access to their emails. Both the CIA and FBI now believe that the interception was carried out to influence the 2016 US elections, hurt Hillary Clinton and to favor Donald Trump win.
Despite many claims and valid evidence that Russia is involved in influencing local elections in three or four Eastern European countries including Germany and United States, President Vladimir Putin remains unperturbed. He even went ahead to demand a hacking proof evidence from current US President Barack Obama.
A top official from White House, who likes to be anonymous in her comments, said that Russia is well aware of the fact that its conventional military arsenal of tanks, planes and ships is a no match to the United States. So, it is trying to tarnish the image of the federal nation by launching cyber attacks, as it gives them a usable strategic capacity and potential for active measures.
What do you say..? Please share your mind through the comments section below.
