The conflict in Ukraine has shown that the war has entered its “fourth plane” – cyberspace, according to Brad Smith, president of Microsoft. Microsoft Invasion In London, UK, today.
He argued that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine marked a significant change in the conduct of the war. It follows the earlier eras, where there were arenas with land, sea and air. “We have reached the point of three months of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the first major hybrid war in the world,” Smith said.
Smith noted that this is an event that Microsoft has already considered. For example, calling for a digital Geneva Convention “forced governments to protect civilians in times of peace and war. It also helped set it up.” Cyber Security Tech Accord, Which involves 150 companies from 29 countries around the world. It “brings us together to think about the principles we will stand for as we see the proliferation of weapons in cyberspace.”
However, he expressed surprise that he would discuss these principles soon after the “significant, big war”.
Smith then focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, with Microsoft focusing on three major technological roles:
A government is sustainable
He highlighted that in World War II the UK government had to underground its communications. “Technology has changed where communication is needed,” he said. The same thing happened with the Ukrainian government, except this time, when “communications went to the clouds.”
Smith said that even a week before the attack began, the Ukrainian government had carried out a full on-premise. It realized it was dangerous and that Microsoft helped the government move into the cloud very quickly, along with other parts of the country’s economy. “We acknowledge that in this case we need to not only transfer their data and infrastructure to the cloud, but in some cases to the cloud outside of Ukraine.” He added: “The best way to protect a country in times of war is to ensure its sustainability by expanding its digital resources.”
Protect a nation
Smith insisted that the first shots of the battle were not fired on February 24, when the attack began, but before that, “where the first” shells “were actually fired into cyberspace.” The first weapon was a malware called Foxblade, which simultaneously attacked more than 300 targets across the Ukrainian government and the critical industry. This attack showed that in war, “distance has shrunk and speed has accelerated.” He added that “cyber weapons can travel at half the speed of light worldwide today – much faster than any hypersonic weapon.”
Microsoft threat intelligence operatives are at the forefront of this threat, Smith said. They have seen that Russian cyber-attacks have been “incredibly sophisticated”, distributed in a very coordinated manner from seven different units in three different parts of the Russian government. In contrast to the NotPetya attack in 2017, which spread to organizations worldwide, they were designed to enter a domain and only affect computers within that domain “specifically targeted”.
He noted that the nature of the cyber-attack evolved from the beginning of the conflict when strategies such as DDoS and website distortion were prevalent. As the war continues, Russia uses a combination of cyber and dynamic attacks. For example, in early March, a few days later, Russia attacked a power plant by lowering the network of a nuclear power plant. “We’re seeing the evolution of this hybrid war in real time,” Smith explained.
This trend underscores the importance of “rapid defense”. Smith said Microsoft was working to send quick information about their attacks “to those who could stop them.” This first line of defense is often the general public working in businesses like network administrators or CIOs. “We have to find them anyway,” he outlined.
Just as radar enabled Britain to respond quickly to enemy bombers during World War II, Smith remarked that detection and security were important to protect the Ukrainian government and vital infrastructure from cyber-attacks.
Smith also highlighted the role of confusion in the conflict, which is “part of a coordinated operation to support Russia’s military goals in Ukraine worldwide.” Therefore, “we need to develop the offensive capabilities to fight this type of cyber-attack the way we fight others.”
To protect people
The role of protecting innocent civilians at this time is “most fundamental to all of us,” Smith said. Most fundamentally, it involves ensuring that there is accountability for war crimes violations during the war, such as Shelling Hospital. Technology has a huge role to play in gathering the evidence needed to prosecute criminals, especially in “gathering, storing and analyzing information related to war crimes investigations.”
He revealed that using satellite imagery, Microsoft has developed an AI algorithm that can “detect daily attacks on hospitals, schools and water towers, damaged or destroyed.”
Smith added that “it is important to use all the tools we need to protect people, and to make sure that Nuremberg lays the groundwork for what was done after World War II.”
