This Past August- Ukrainian IT Army Stealthily Impersonated Pretty Women to Sniff Out the Hidden Sites of Russian Bases

Recent reports by The Financial Times indicate that an IT specialist recently created a group of Ukrainians to

Write [as] attractive women to Russian soldiers from fictitious accounts and convince them to send photos from the front to locate their base.” [i]

A 30-year-old computer scientist from Kharkiv, Nikita Knysh, is responsible for forming the group following Russia’s recent February invasion of Ukraine. [ii]To corroborate the group’s claims, reporters reviewed “photos, videos, and log files that confined some of [Knysh’s] claims.” Russian soldiers allegedly sent several photos of these fabricated ‘women “to prove they are warriors.” [ii]

Member Nikita Knysh states that following receipt of the photos from the Russian soldiers, the group could identify on which Russian military base the photos were taken by using the geolocation of the photos. [iii]

Once examined, one photo was determined to be taken “near occupied Melitopol in southern Ukraine.” They then passed this new intel along to the Ukrainian military. The Ukrainian Armed Forces, upon receiving the intel, were able to destroy the military base with no reported casualties. [iii]

In addition to these small yet meaningful efforts, Ukraine has continued to blaze the technological trail as they formally announced the creation of “an IT army.” Ukraine has formed an “IT Army of Ukraine,” specifically for “attacks on Russian sites.” Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fedorov, made a public announcement stating,

We have a lot of talented Ukrainians in the digital sphere…We are creating an IT army…There will be tasks for everyone. We continue to fight on the cyber front. [iv]

References

[i] Mehul Srivastava, Ukraine’s Army of IT professionals, (Sep. 3, 2022)

[ii] Krzysztof Bates, The war in Ukraine. Hackers impersonated attractive women to track down Russian soldiers, (Sep. 6, 2022)

[iii] Id.

[iv] The Odessa Journal, Ukraine has created an IT Army, (Feb. 27, 2022)