Ankura CTIX FLASH Update - August 5, 2022

Ransomware/Malware Activity

Ukraine Takes Down 1,000,000 Bots Used to Conduct a Russian Disinformation Campaign

The Ukrainian cyber police (SSU) have shut down a massive bot farm used to spread disinformation on social networks. The goal of the 1,000,000 bots was to discredit information coming from official Ukrainian state sources, destabilize the social and political situation in the country, and create internal strife. The bot farm is believed to have been part of a disinformation campaign run by Russian Special Services. SSU's investigation led to the identification of the criminal group's leader, a Russian "political expert" who has lived in Kyiv in the past. The farm that was dismantled by the SSU had nodes in Kyiv, Kharkiv, and Vinnytsiaarm. To amass the army of 1,000,000 bots, the threat actors used 5,000 SIM cards to register new social media accounts. Additionally, the operators used 200 proxy servers that masked their IP addresses and helped to evade