CyberPartizans: We publicly talk about only 10% of successful attacks on the Lukashenko and Putin regimes

Yulyana Shemetovets, the official representative of "Belarusian CyberPartyzans", told "DS" about when and why the hacker group appeared; what successful operations against the regimes of Lukashenko and Putin has already been conducted and about the further plans and ambitions of hacktivists, пишет Vladyslav Girman, an observer of the international policy department.

Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin

— So, let's introduce the readers to "KyberPartizans" a little. About the name. I understand that this is a combination of the sphere of activity and the historical business card of Belarus - the resistance movement.

- Absolutely right.

— Do you perceive Lukashenko as an invader, an occupier or a collaborator?

— He is an illegitimate president, a criminal, one of those responsible for the attack on Ukraine, for the aggression of the Russian Federation. Lukashenko's regime has been used for these purposes since the beginning of the 22nd year.

Lukashenko is a Soviet-style president who tries to control the people, impose his own rules and worldview. And in principle, he sincerely does not understand when people say: "Get down." However, Belarusians are a complex society, we are developing. And we are no longer the Soviet Union, we are part of Europe, and we no longer need it.

— What we saw in the 20th year...

— Yes, yes, in the 20th year... How did "CyberPartizans" appear? In the past, not only during the Second World War, but also during the previous occupation of our lands by the Russian Empire, Belarusians were known for their partisan activity and resistance. When the enemy is much stronger, has more weapons and human resources, the only way to resist is precisely partisan actions, partisan resistance.

This is how the Belarusians acted when the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, disintegrated, subsequently partisan resistance to the Russian regime turned into resistance to the Soviet regime. And in 2020, the partisan movement was revived as resistance to the Lukashenko regime. The violence that the regime used was much stronger than the capabilities of the Belarusian people to defend themselves, so the "CyberPartisans" decided to use their knowledge in cyberspace to strike at the regime in an area where the regime cannot defend itself due to a lack of specialists. .

- Was this the point of no return? And how did it happen? Hacktivists got together and decided: "We will destroy the regime first"?

— I actually joined CyberPartisans after the first vivid attack on the Ministry of Internal Affairs in June 2021.

However, "CyberPartisans" appeared in early September 2020. One person hacked the website of the Chamber of Commerce and posted a message there: "Violence is being committed against the Belarusian people." I invite you to participate," he began to inform about what was happening. And he posted the key that needed to be deciphered in order to contact this person. Those who deciphered this key became the backbone of the group. How exactly they contacted each other, I don't know and, to be honest, I don't want to know.

Then they hacked the streaming service of state channels and showed a video of people being beaten on the streets. This was the first powerful and successful attack.

At first, it was about spot actions, there was no concrete strategy yet, because emotions prevailed: they posted videos, some protest messages. There was a feeling that it was still a little while and it would rain. However, this did not happen, so the question arose about where to develop and what to do. After all, the cell had already been formed and there was an understanding that it was necessary to unite not only in cyberspace, but also "on the ground".

So, for example, the attack on the Ministry of Internal Affairs took place with the help of partisans "on the ground". They took the first step, after which the "CyberPartisans" got the opportunity to work inside the network, to have access to documents, video recordings, data about the regime's eavesdropping on its own people. This was the first big action of the "Suprovit" group, which consists of three groups - "KyberPartyzany", "Busly lyatsyt" and "Druzhyna Narodnaya Samabaronany".

Now the group "on the ground" is not very strong, since most of the most trained and effective went to Ukraine in the regiment of Kastus Kalinovsky. Of course, we still have people "on the ground", but it is very difficult to operate in the conditions that have developed in Belarus today - constant repression, people are detained simply for posts and comments on social networks. Lukashenko is trying to control the country by force.

— How much has the purpose of the movement changed during this time?

— At first, the movement united people with different views on the methods of fighting the Lukashenko regime. So "CyberPartizans" split into three groups: "blue", "red" and "yellow". "Yellow" engaged in social networks and propaganda. "Blue", in principle, disappeared. And the red ones are those who still remain in this movement. There are some people who at the beginning did something, but left with emotions: "We need to live somehow"...

- Burnt out?

- Burned out, yes. We treat it normally. Some people have stayed since 2020, some joined later.

In 2021, when it became clear that Lukashenko still won, it was necessary to think that we are planning not only in terms of cyberattacks, but also in a political sense. After all, hacktivists, for the most part, are anonymous, but they are usually fragmented, they do not have a clear goal. Our goal is to overthrow the regime. And this means that it is necessary to take power, and this is political work. Therefore, I became a public representative of the movement so that people understood our goals and objectives. We are also conducting negotiations on cooperation with other organizations, democratic forces of Belarus and other countries.

We also have Dmitry Shchygelsky, he is the political representative of the regiment. We work very actively with him and are, in principle, united with the regiment. These are our main partners.

— How do you generally assess the strength of the Lukashenko regime's cyber defense? Do sanctions affect these processes?

— The authorities partially use Chinese software, but mainly work with Western software. Sometimes it is pirated software, sometimes we see that the structures in respect of which sanctions are imposed find, for example, some company in the West and buy software through it. Key agencies often use a VPN to renew their license as if they were in another country.

Less important departments use pirated software, non-updated operating systems. And it is much easier for us to get there.

We also see Chinese products. As for Russian, I think yes, but it is not very widespread.

— Do you interact with specialists from other countries?

— Basically, 90% of us are Belarusians. There are foreigners who help, but I can't say who exactly. When we break systems, they perform certain tasks — they write some code, but they don't know how their work will be used, so they don't have problems.

— Is the problem of incorporation of agents by the Lukashenko regime into CyberPartizans still relevant?

— Of course, we know that the agency is "writing" us. And the Russian FSB officers are very interested in us.

We understand the risk of incorporation. Not in the very center, because the most trusted people are gathered there. We have a kind of "board of directors" that has access to up-to-date information that develops strategy and attacks, and then implements them. The core is about 30 people, and there are 70-80 people in the group. And we understand that there is a low probability that agents of the regime may be incorporated into it. Therefore, we have a security system, group representatives have different levels of access to information.

— That is, like in some special service?

- In principle, yes. It looks like the system of work of special services. Some foreigners call us Digital Resistance Group, this is a larger structural association.

— What are the TOP-5 most successful of your operations?

— Our most important attack is an attack on the Belarusian logistics system before and after the start of a full-scale war in Ukraine. When Russian troops entered Belarus, it was attacked, which affected the movement of Russian military columns.

The second place, I think, is the attack on the Ministry of Internal Affairs, when we got access to the database with information about representatives of democratic forces, passports, work, criminal and administrative cases. Thanks to this, we are now verifying, in particular, the requests of activists or journalists, volunteers coming to Ukraine.

The third place is an attack on the Russian regime, on the main radio frequency center of Roskomnadzor. It was broken and we received information about how Roskomnadzor spies in Russia and post-Soviet countries — Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, etc.; what technologies are being developed for disinformation, in particular AI; bots, troll farms.

It should be emphasized that after we built our own reputation, gained trust, we had partners, we realized that it is important to inspire Belarusians, because without this, we cannot change the government. And we cannot risk access to information that can be used as a "black swan" during a protest for the sake of PR. Therefore, in principle, we demonstrate only 10% of what we do. In Russia, maybe a little more, but not all.

From what we have made public, I will add that we received information about the Orlan drones - who produces them, logistics, transport from the database of the Russian "Special Technology Center". We were silent about it for several months after the operation, after we transferred the data to our Ukrainian partners. They worked it out and we were able to publicly announce that we had received information about the Russian Eagles.

More recently, the KGB website was hacked and 40 addressed, which included denunciations. They were handed over to Ukrainian experts and partners, and there they found, for example, that on February 13, 2021, Serhiy Starozhuk, a deputy from OPZZ, offered cooperation to the KGB.

Thus, we send an important message to all Belarusians who write to the KGB: when you send such things, when you contact them, you should know that information about you will be in the public space. So that people think: to write or not to write in such structures.

— Let's imagine: the Lukashenko regime has been overthrown. Will "Cyberpartisans" join state processes?

- I hope so. Part will work in an analytical center dealing with data analysis, security and certain investigations. Every service now has hackers who are engaged in reconnaissance. That is, part in the center, part — intelligence, part — development of the IT sector.

If not, I hope they will participate in political life.

Now we are helping Ukraine both because of our own moral principles and because we understand that we have a common enemy. Without the weakening of the Russian regime, we have no chance.

Read on Newsky "Race with Putin. Why Blinken left for China". and look at Boring Pence YouTube channel.

To always be up to date, subscribe to TG channel Newsky. We also recommend the current discussion of friends of Ukraine in North America Rashkin Report YouTube channel.