She later added, somewhat confusingly, that “the Sandworm hacker group has something in common [with us] … This is the commander-in-chief of our cyber army.” However, it wasn't clear whether that comment referred to a shared leader overseeing the two groups – or even some sort of imagined ideological leader like Russian President Vladimir Putin – or if Julia meant that Sandworm itself gives the Cyber Army its orders. , contradicting her previous statements. Julia did not respond to WIRED's requests for clarification on that question, or, in fact, to questions following that comment.
A hacktivist hype machine
Russian experts on information warfare and influence operations with whom WIRED shared the full text of the interview noted that despite Cyber Army of Russia's claims to act as an independent grassroots organization, it closely aligns with the talking points of the Russian government and the published information of the Russian military. war doctrine. The group's rhetoric about changing “minds and hearts” beyond the front lines of a conflict through attacks on civilian infrastructure echoes a well-known article on “information confrontation” by the Russian military general Valery Gerasimov, for example. Other parts of Julia's commentary – an unsolicited polemic against “non-traditional sexual relations” and a description of Russia as a conservative cultural “Noah's Ark of the 21st century” – echo similar statements by Russian leaders and Russian state media.
None of this proves that Cyber Army of Russia has anything more than the tenuous ties to the GRU that Mandiant has uncovered, says Gavin Wilde, a Russia-focused senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Instead, he argues that the group's comments appear to be an attempt to score points with a potential government sponsor, perhaps in hopes of a more official relationship. “They are really trying to hone their message, but not necessarily for a Western audience, but trying to put points on the board at home and with potential political or financial benefactors in Moscow,” he says.
At one point in the interview with WIRED, Julia explicitly expressed that request for more official government support. “I really hope that the People's Cyber Army of Russia will have great prospects, that our government agencies will not only pay attention to us, but support our actions, both financially and through the formation of full-fledged cyber forces as part of the Russian Armed Forces. Armed Forces,” she wrote.
Outside of the conversation with WIRED, Cyber Army of Russia posts on its Telegram channel in Russian, not English – a strange move for a group that claims to want to influence Western politics in its favor. Other Russian influence operations set up by the GRU itself, such as the Guccifer 2.0 And DCleaks fronts created to influence the 2016 presidential election, written in English. Even other “hacktivist” groups that target civilian critical infrastructure, such as Predatory sparrow linked to Israeltake credit for their attacks in the language of their targets – in the case of Predatory Sparrow, by posting messages in Persian on Telegram in an apparent attempt to influence Iranians.