CSTO: A real information warfare is underway in the CSTO area of responsibility

“The number of cyberattacks on the information infrastructure of our states is growing. There has been an exponential increase in the number of computer attacks, most of which are complex in nature. This year, the challenges in this sphere have become even more acute, severe and large-scale. Essentially, the information framework of the CSTO area of responsibility suffers real aggression, a war,” said Aleksandr Kuznetsov, a representative of the CSTO Secretariat, in his speech at the 9th Southern Information Security Forum Infoforum – Sochi, TASS reports.
According to Mr Kuznetsov, coordinated information attacks are carried out from different states and not by lone hackers but by “state structures.” “It is known for a fact that the armed forces of a number of states include so-called cyber forces. In some countries such structures have existed for more than a decade,” he continued. “There are deliberate attempts to disable Internet resources of the critical information infrastructure of our states.”
Aleksandr Kuznetsov noted that the elimination of call centres operating in Berdyansk, Melitopol and Mariupol reduced the number of phishing calls aimed at damaging CSTO members. “These centres do not operate independently, but with the participation of coordinators and NATO members, with the involvement of all the infrastructure that allows monitoring of materials used for special information operations,” Aleksandr Kuznetsov said.
He added that the phishing call centres were destroyed during the special military operation in Ukraine. Moreover, the centres were operated with the involvement of NATO member states.
The national information security forum Infoforum is one of the flagship annual IT events in Russia. The forum has been held since 2001 and was initiated by the administration of the Russian Security Council and the State Duma Security Committee. Infoforum was the first Russian event in the sphere of information security. The southern Infoforum is being held in Sochi on July 5–8.