Kina indledte et storstilet cyberangreb på Ukraines militær- og atomanlæg få dage før den russiske invasion, rapporterer The Times. Det stiller spørgsmålet om Kinas holdning til krigen i et helt andet lys. Kina var på Ruslands side lige fra begyndelsen.

China staged a huge cyberattack on Ukraine’s military and nuclear facilities in the build-up to Russia’s invasion, according to intelligence memos obtained by The Times.

More than 600 websites belonging to the defence ministry in Kyiv and other institutions suffered thousands of hacking attempts which were co-ordinated by the Chinese government, according to Ukraine’s security service, the SBU.

Angrebene begyndte under OL i Beijing og varede indtil den 23. februar, dagen før invasionen.

Kineserne angreb vital infrastruktur som jernbaner, centralbanker og grænsestyrker.

A source in the spy agency revealed that, in an apparent sign of complicity in the invasion, Chinese attacks started before the end of the Winter Olympics and peaked on February 23, the day before Russian troops and tanks crossed the border.

The SBU said China’s attacks sought to infiltrate targets ranging from border defence forces to the national bank and railway authority. They were designed to steal data and explore ways to shut down or disrupt vital defence and civilian infrastructure.

Hvis vestlig efterretningstjeneste har vidst dette, hvorfor har de så ladet som om, at Kina virkelig var utilfreds med invasionen? Signalerne er klare: Putin underskrev den strategiske aftale med Beijing i begyndelsen af ​​februar, og Beijing har nægtet at deltage i sanktioner. Det kom måske ikke som en overraskelse. Kina deltog i “forberedelserne” til invasionen.

Ukraines sikkerhedstjenester er begyndt at skille sig ud mere offentligt. SBU fortæller, at det var Folkets Befrielseshær, der stod bag.

Russia also tried to cripple Ukraine’s computer networks and compromise government websites before invading, but the SBU said that Chinese attacks could be distinguished by the trademark tools and methods of the cyberwarfare unit of the People’s Liberation Army.

Britiske GCHQ siger, at de efterforsker angrebet og vil ikke sige noget endeligt. Det virker ikke overbevisende. Angreb over så mange dage efterlader mange fingeraftryk.

Amerikanerne bekræfter derimod, at Kina hackede Ukraine big time.

US intelligence sources indicated that the information about a Chinese cyberattack on Ukrainian government facilities before the Russian invasion was accurate.

Den ukrainske efterretningstjeneste ønsker naturligvis, at hackingen bliver kendt. De har forsynet The Times med rapporter skrevet af et andet land. Heraf kan man konkludere, at det var Ukraine, der ønskede, at Kinas rolle blev kendt. USA og Storbritannien har været tavse indtil nu. Det er ret fantastisk. Informationen ændrer hele det strategiske billede.

The timing appears to confirm that Moscow had already informed Beijing of its invasion plans, cybersecurity experts said. “It sounds like they didn’t care that they were seen — they had an objective to get in and get what they needed as quickly as possible,” Tom Hegel, a senior threat researcher at SentinelOne, a US cybersecurity firm, said.

“It’s abnormal for a CNE-type effort, it stresses the importance of what they knew was coming.”

Rusland er gode til cyberkrigsførelse, men Kinas ressourcer er større, siger en ekspert.

Steve Tsang, director of the Soas China Institute, said: “The number of people China has engaged in cyberoperations is enormous. A lot of them are part of the People’s Liberation Army, which is part of the [Chinese Communist] party.

Så sent som den 22. marts var der et kinesisk cyberangreb. At Ukraine har gjort modstand, har fået mange til at antage, at de har fået hjælp udefra.

Analysts have been perplexed by the failure of hackers to dismantle the technology behind Ukraine’s infrastructure, particularly given the power grid suffered a powerful attack in 2015 and that government websites were compromised in January, five weeks before the invasion began.

The answer lies, at least in part, in the West beefing up support for the country’s defences as US intelligence warned that an invasion was imminent. In October the US sent private Silicon Valley contractors and soldiers from Army Cyber Command to Ukraine to bolster the country’s cyberdefences. They were withdrawn in January as countries pulled diplomatic and military staff out of the country.

Hjælpen skal også være efterretninger om slagmarken i realtid. Ellers kunne ukrainerne ikke have udtaget seks generaler. Putin er formentlig klar over, hvad og hvem han er oppe imod.

Samtidig har han fået vist, at han har kineserne bag sig. Vesten har bidt negle over, hvorvidt Kina ville give Rusland materiel hjælp: De siges at have bedt om våben.

Det er ikke så stort et spørgsmål som før, for Kina har krydset Rubicon for længe siden.

China accused of hacking Ukraine days before Russian invasion
Ukrainian intelligence suggests Beijing is complicit in Putin’s war