Immediately after the start of the full-scale invasion, enemy special services began a campaign to discredit the Security Service of Ukraine. Considering the certain destabilization that has arisen in Ukrainian society, the enemy decided to use the name of the SBU to cover up their crimes.
The main goal of this disinformation campaign was to destroy the SBU’s reputation, spread panic among the Ukrainian population, stop the exchange of information and destabilize the work of state authorities.
Russian propaganda actively spread narratives that the Security Service of Ukraine has lost control of the situation, total censorship and control over the actions of the population in the Internet space is introduced in Ukraine, and every Ukrainian is a potential collaborator.
Cases within the campaign
- A fake about the introduction of new communication rules
Thus, with the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into the territory of Ukraine, messages allegedly from the Security Service of Ukraine about the introduction of new communication rules from February 25, 2022 began to spread in all social networks. The enemy tried to assure the Ukrainian population of introducing total censorship and establishing control over the actions of the population in all social networks and communication channels.
The Center for Countering Disinformation, having discovered the emergence of an information threat, immediately contacted the Security Service of Ukraine and received an official refutation of this fake, which it immediately informed the public about.
- A fake about conducting an inspection by the SBU in order to gain access to the accounts of Ukrainian users by the enemy
On February 25, information on behalf of the Security Service of Ukraine was disseminated through Telegram and other messengers, in which the SBU allegedly requires Ukrainians to follow a link in order to pass an account verification.
The Center’s employees established that in fact the link offered Ukrainians to add a new device to their account. After that, the enemy could gain access to the entire history of correspondence (except for secret chats), as well as gain the ability to write under someone else’s name.
Therefore, after the inspection, the Center issued a message to warn the population and stop the threat.
- Fake letters from the Security Service of Ukraine to representatives of the Government ministries of Ukraine with a request to provide information
On February 28, 2022, requests for the provision of confidential information began to be received by representatives of the Government ministries and ordinary citizens of Ukraine, allegedly on behalf of and from the mail of the Security Service of Ukraine.
Employees of the Center established that this mailing was a planned cyber attack, as it contained malicious software. In this way, the representatives of the aggressor country tried to seize the computers of Ukrainians and collect the information necessary for further criminal actions. The CCD immediately notified the Security Service of Ukraine about the existing threat, and also informed the population to mitigate the possible negative consequences of the enemy’s information attack.
