Security News > 2023 > July > Ukraine busts bot farm spreading Russian infowar propaganda and fraud

Ukrainian cops have disrupted a massive bot farm with more than 100 operators allegedly spreading fake news about the Russian invasion, leaking personal information belonging to Ukrainian citizens, and instigating fraud schemes.

"The Cyber Police established that the attackers used special equipment and software to register thousands of bot accounts in various social networks and subsequently launch advertisements that violated the norms and legislation of Ukraine," according to machine translation of the news alert issued by the police.

Of course, Russian operatives spreading disinformation about the illegal war - or anything else, for that matter - isn't new.

The Ukrainians have busted multiple bot farms behind more than one million fake social media accounts since the invasion began in February 2022.

Even before the war began, security researchers tracked a Russian influence campaign known as "Secondary Infektion" spreading misinformation about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy - including talk that the Jewish former comedian was a Nazi.

Just last month a deepfake video aired on Russian TV purportedly depicting Russian president Vladimir Putin declaring martial law.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/07/20/ukraine_busts_russian_bot_farm/