Communications of the ACM
Hackers' Fake Claims of Ukrainian Surrender Aren't Fooling Anyone. So What's Their Goal?
Since Russia’s invasion began, hackers have repeatedly broken into the social media accounts and broadcasting systems of trusted information sources in Ukraine.
Credit: Daniel Berehulak/The New York Times
Andriy Taranov, a board member at the Ukrainian public broadcasting company Suspilne, was sitting in his office last month when he noticed a strange message running across the bottom of the television screen. It said Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, had announced a surrender.
Mr. Taranov was stunned because there had been no chatter about a surrender among reporters covering Russia's invasion of the country. "There's nothing like that in any journalist circle," he remembered thinking. "It looks absolutely contradictory."
The message was fake, he quickly realized. It had been planted on the chyron of Media Group Ukraine's live broadcast by hackers.
Since Russia's invasion began in late February, hackers have repeatedly broken into the social media accounts and broadcasting systems of trusted information sources in Ukraine, like government officials and prominent media outlets. They used their access to spread false messages that Ukraine was surrendering, sometimes using fake videos to bolster their claims.
From The New York Times
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