The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) said that hackers compromised websites of local government and regional authorities to promote Fake News that Ukraine surrendered and signed a peace treaty with Russia.
See also: Ukraine: We need volunteer hackers to protect critical infrastructure
The SSU revealed the fact in a tweet distributed by the State Service of Ukraine for Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP) to Ukrainian Twitter users.
“WARNING! THIS IS FAKE NEWS! The enemy has invaded some sites of regional authorities and local governments and is spreading lies through them about the alleged “capitulation and signing of a peace treaty with Russia,” the SSU said, according to Reuters.
The Ukrainian parliament also issued a similar warning, saying that the Public Broadcaster News in Kherson was seized with plans to spread disinformation about Ukraine's surrender and the "signing of a peace treaty with the Russian Federation.".
The SSU warned on Tuesday that the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (also known as the GRU) is using Telegram to spread false information.
See also: Google under pressure to remove Russian propaganda channels on YouTube
Following Russia's invasion, Ukrainian networks and organizations have been under a constant barrage of cyberattacks.
The Computer Emergency Response Team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) and Facebook warned of phishing campaigns targeting Ukrainian officials and military personnel.
Both attributed these campaigns to a hacking group known as UNC1151 or Ghostwriter.
On Wednesday, cybersecurity firm Proofpoint said it had detected phishing attacks targeting European government personnel assisting Ukrainian refugees. This campaign aligns with and is likely related to phishing attacks in July 2021, also by the Ghostwriter hacking group.
Ukrainian officials are not the only targets of such attacks, as SSSCIP revealed a day after the war began, saying that a separate series of phishing attacks also began targeting Ukrainians with malicious documents.
See also: Ukraine: Its “IT Army” targets 31 Russian entities
These warnings come in the wake of malware attacks using ransomware bait and the destructive HermeticWiper and WhisperGate that aims to destroy data on targets' devices and render them unbootable.
Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov also announced over the weekend the creation of an "informatics army" that would help the country "fight on the cyber front.".
