Russia's crimes against the media: at least 100 cyber attacks on the media and journalists in the 3 years since the start of the invasion

Illustration by the Institute of Mass Infrormation

The Institute of Mass Information recorded at least 100 cyber attacks on Ukrainian news websites in the three years of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

This category is the second largest in terms of how many cases the Institute of Mass Information recorded in its monitoring study of Russia's crimes against journalists and the media, said Kateryna Dyachuk, the IMI's chief of freedom of speech monitoring, at the public discussion “Three Years of Resistance: Freedom of Speech in the Face of a Full-Scale Russian Invasion” in Kyiv on February 21.

The Russians attacked the websites of both national and regional media outlets covering Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The Russians targeted online news outlets, television and radio broadcasting, and tried to use them to disseminate their propaganda. Namely, the Russian forces have:

• hacked news websites and their social media pages;
• replaced the news with Russian manifestos;
• posted Russian symbols or calls to surrender on the websites;
• committed phishing attacks;
• disrupted TV broadcasts (e.g. hacked the news tickers, streamed the USSR anthem, interrupted the broadcast with Russian music videos and propaganda, etc.);
• replaced the media outlets' content;
• disrupted Ukrainian satellite broadcasting and jammed its signal;
• created fake clones of Ukrainian news websites mimicking their interfaces and logos to spread disinformation (“all hope is lost”, “Zelensky has betrayed everyone”, “there will be no more weapons”, “the allies are betraying us” and other false and panicmongering narratives);
• posed as Ukrainian programs (e.g. streaming a fake radio broadcast called “Slobozhanske FM” on the 90.2 FM frequency, trying to hijack the Halychyna FM broadcast).

The Institute of Mass Information (IMI) is a Ukrainian non-governmental media organization that has been operating since 1996. The IMI defends the rights of journalists, analyzes the media field and covers media-related events, fights propaganda and disinformation and has been providing media outlets with safety gear for trips to the combat zone since the start of the Russo–Ukrainian war in 2014.

The IMI carries out Ukraine's only freedom of speech monitoring and keeps a list of high quality and sustainable online media outlets, documents Russia's crimes against the media committed in the course of the war on Ukraine. The IMI has representatives in 20 oblasts of Ukraine and a network of "Mediabaza" hubs to provide journalists with continuous support. The IMI's partners include Reporters Without Borders and Freedom House; the organization is a member of the International Organization for the Protection of Freedom of Expression (IFEX).