Ukraine is building an ‘IT army’ of volunteers, something that’s never been tried before

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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by cyberattacks and now Ukraine is recruiting volunteers to defend networks – and hack back.

Ukraine has created what is describes as an “IT army” to defend against Russian hackers and to launch counter operations against cyber threats.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been accompanied by cyberattacks targeting the country’s services and infrastructure, including DDoS attacks and destructive wiper malware campaigns – leading to the Ukrainian government calling for volunteers to aid with cybersecurity. But it has also asked for support in conducting offensive cyber operations back at Russia.

“We are creating an IT army,” Mykhailo Fedorov, vice prime minister of Ukraine said in a tweet at the weekend. “There will be tasks for everyone. We continue to fight on the cyber front. The first task is on the channel for cyber specialists,” he added, alongside a Telegram link to join the ‘IT Army of Ukraine’, which now has tens of thousands of subscribers.