Five different robot farms that controlled about 100,000 fake accounts were destroyed by the Security Service of Ukraine after reportedly spreading misinformation spreading fear to Ukraine. The robot farms were reportedly raided with almost 10,000 SIM cards, computers, weaponry, and USB drives seized.
Five Bot Farms Were Responsible for Controlling Up to 100,000 Fake Accounts
The Security Service of Ukraine or SBU released an announcement on Mar. 28 that said that the bot farms were controlling up to a whopping 100,000 accounts in order to spread fake news and misinformation about the invasion of Ukraine.
The SBU notes that the robot farm reportedly started on Feb. 24 and has been in existence for over a month. As per the security service, these particular bot farms have been attempting to spread panic among the citizens of Ukraine and destabilize the socio-political situation in a number of regions.
SBU Raided the Bot Farms in Cherkasky, Kharkiv, Ternopil, and Zakarpattia
According to the story by ZDNet, the SBU accused Russia of operating these particular farms in order to conduct "large-scale information sabotage." These farms were located in four different locations, namely Cherkasky, Kharkiv, Ternopil, and Zakarpattia.
The bots reportedly used social media accounts to spread "distorted news" and alleged propaganda related to the invasion. In addition, to catch the bot farms, the SBU investigator reportedly raided them and seized items that included a whopping 100 GSM gateway devices and more.
Bot Farm had 10,000 SIM Cards, Laptops, Weaponry, and USB Drives
The SBU raid on the bot farms also saw almost 10,000 SIM cards, laptops, and some other computing equipment. The Ukrainian agency also shared photos showing the mobile phones, weaponry, and USB drives that they were able to seize.
The investigators, however, have not mentioned that they were able to make any arrests. As per reports from Ukrinform, the country has also launched its very own fact-check bot called the Perevikra.
Ukraine's Connectivity Reportedly Collapsed by 13% Compared to Pre-Invasion Levels
As per Ukrinform, citizens will be able to use the fact-check bot for them to identify if the online content they find is fake or not. Even before the start of the war, Ukraine was already facing a number of different cybersecurity incidents and breaches.
Recently, Ukrainian internet service provider (ISP) Ukrtelecom infrastructure was reportedly the target of a cyberattack. As of the moment, Ukrainian connectivity reportedly collapsed by 13% of pre-invasion levels.
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Ukrainian ISPs Reportedly Supplied the Country's Military
Ukrainian officials reported that the attack on their ISPs aiming to disrupt Ukranian communication had been neutralized.
As reported by PortSwigger.Net, an internet outage directed at the ISPs that were supplying a connection to the Ukrainian military happened at 10:00 UTC on Mar. 28. Currently, no confirmation has been given on who was behind the attack.
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This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian B.
