Facial Recognition On The Battlefield | Okta Breached | How Ukraine Stays Online

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If you're wondering how Ukraine is staying online, even in cities besieged by Russian bombs, look to the engineers. Some their relatives may have fled the country, but telecoms companies' staff have remained behind to fix cables, replace equipment and keep the power running, all so Ukrainians can stay in touch with family and report what's happening to the outside world.

I spoke with staff at two of the biggest telecoms companies in the country - Kyivstar and Lifecell - to hear how they were supporting their technicians. They were candid in detailing how their staff had to avoid Russian bombs, going out, typically in the mornings soon after a strike, to check on damaged telecoms stations before more fresh attacks were launched. The images they sent were remarkable too: engineers surrounded by bombed-out cars, buildings ripped open by explosions and blackened by fire.

You can read my report in full here.

If you have any tips on what's happening in Ukraine, or any stories about government surveillance, privacy or cybercrime, drop me an email on tbrewster@forbes.com or message me on Signal at +447782376697.

And just so you know, I'll be off for around a month, meaning this newsletter will be on a break too. I'll be back towards the end of April or early May. Take care.

The Big Story

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Ukrtelecom, a major internet and phone provider in Ukraine, is fending off a severe cyberattack that has led to national outages. It could be the most significant attack since the Russian invasion began.

Okta, a company that handles the security of logins for thousands of companies, was itself the victim of a cyberattack. This one stemmed from one of its call center outsourcers, though Okta customers were peeved about the lack of communication from the company on the attack, which hit in January. That was two months before anyone learned of the hack.

A hacking crew known as LAPSUS$ claimed responsibility for the breach. A matter of days after the Okta breach was revealed, Bloomberg reported that one of the crew's leaders was believed to be a teenager living in the U.K. Arrests were later announced by London police.

The Department of Justice unsealed indictments against four Russian government employees accused of a hacking campaign targeting energy companies and infrastructure worldwide between 2012 and 2018.

Russia has been linked to a cyberattack on satellite internet provider Viasat, which landed in the week that Putin launched his war in Ukraine.

Ukraine has published what it claims are the names and addresses of 620 FSB officers, The Times reports. If found to be real data, it's another major leak in the war, which has seen many, though verification has been hard to come by.

Though the company has pulled out of Russia over the Ukraine war, Nokia technology is likely still being used to support a major Kremlin surveillance technology called SORM, the New York Times reports. It's involvement in the project has been known since a 2019 leak, TechCrunch reported at the time.

Winner Of The Week

Less than two months after coming out of stealth Dallas-based startup Island has become a unicorn with a valuation above $1 billion, thanks to raises totaling $200 million. It claims to offer the world's first "enterprise browser," though that's a technology other startups are working on.

Loser Of The Week

FinFisher, which was known as one of the world's most prolific spyware makers long before Israel's NSO Group arrived, has reportedly shut down. Based in Germany, it was, like NSO, accused of supporting regimes with surveillance of activists and journalists. But now three companies associated with the business have filed for bankruptcy and a former executive told German digital rights publication Netzpolitik that FinFisher was no more.