Can cyber attacks and hacking change the course of a war?

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The cost of a war is huge both financially as well as physically. A lot of money is needed to fuel a war. As can be seen in the long drawn war that is happening in between Russia & Ukraine.
Millions of dollars are being wasted in this conflict. This money could have been used for the growth and benefit of the citizens.

Not every war is fought with guns and bullets

Fighting with guns and ammunition is only one aspect of the battle, another war that is causing damage is cyber warfare.
In this kind of war there are cyber armies of trained hackers that try to infiltrate the properties of the opposite side via the internet.
The latest in this field is how the Ukrainian side is attacking the Russian side with its cyber army.
A group of hackers known by the name of Blackjacks have allegiance to SBU (Security Service of Ukraine).
They have reportedly broken into the Russian side and stolen the construction plans of 500 Russian bases to be constructed. These construction plans were held and managed by a Russian state enterprise which is responsible for the Russian military bases being built.

As part of this heist they obtained 1.2 TB of classified data.
This stolen data contains maps of more than 500 bases in Russia as well as Putin occupied Ukraine.
They also include information about military headquarters for the Russian army.
The database also has information about air defence installation and the weapons arsenals.

GUR (Ukraines Military Intelligence Agency ) stated that the already complete Russian military facilities and also those which are at the stage of construction were transferred to the security and defence forces of Ukraine.
The hacker group had carried out a cyber attack against Moscow internet provider M9 Telecom and as a result the citizens were deprived of the internet access.

This could very well be a warm up attack before a larger target is hit. Such cyber attacks are common from both sides.
Earlier in December 2023 Ukrainian hackers from the blackjack group carried out a cyberattack on a Russian company Rosvodo Kanal dealing with water utilities and water management.Thus blocking their work.
The recent cyberattack is significant in the ongoing conflict between Ukraine and Russia and has dealt a significant blow to Russia’s national security as the stolen data could very well be used by other countries to develop a strategy against the Russian forces.

Attack exposes The Russian vulnerability

This attack has shown how vulnerable is the cyber defense of Russia. They would certainly need to upgrade and improve their cyber defence systems.

Cyber attacks and hacking are integral part of modern day warfare

There is no sign that the cyber attacks made by the Blackjack group would stop or slow down. In order to protect their information and infrastructure from future attacks Russia would need to take serious upgrades.

Cyber attacks are a potent tool in modern day warfare. Infrastructure and intelligence based information can be compromised using cyber attacks and an entire army can be brought to its knees.
Things that take years to built can be exposed and compromised due to the slightest chink in the armor.
If these hackers were to upload the plans to the dark web the information worth millions could be seen exchanging hands for a few thousand dollars or crypto.

Espionage & cyber hacking is a huge business

With changing times Espionage related work has started using cyber tools. Often the Internet comes in handy for remotely executed jobs.
Money for such jobs could be paid via online bank deposits or even crypto.

Sources referred:
I, II, III

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