Head of British intelligence Jeremy Fleming believes that in the last six months of the war, Russia has not managed to gain advantages over Ukraine in cyberspace and is losing the information war, however, he warned that it is happening not in all corners of the world yet.
According to the Yevropeiska Pravda online media, this is stated in his column for The Economist.
Fleming notes that from the beginning, both Russia and Ukraine have well understood that one of the important dimensions of the war, in addition to the actual battlefield, is the information one - the struggle for influence and their narratives.
"As much as this is a barbaric and destructive war, it is also a very modern digital and cyber war," he writes.
According to him, Russia's initial plans for attacks in the digital and information space started to fail from the very beginning.
"The offensive cyber means they used were irresponsible and indiscriminate. Information operations turned out to be clumsy and were interrupted by the publication of intelligence information. And the attempts of the Russian military to destroy the digital infrastructure of Ukraine and sow discord through digital means ran into the steady, professional and effective protection of Ukrainian cyber specialists," notes Fleming.
He very highly evaluates Ukraine's cyber resistance and writes that it was perhaps "the most effective defensive cyber activity in history."
"Working under constant pressure, against a very strong adversary, a team of industry specialists, intelligence specialists, security services and sometimes ordinary citizens worked side by side to warn, react and correct the consequences. This defense turned out to be stronger than expected in the Russian Federation. Ironically , their military activities contributed to their own failures in cyberspace - Russian attacks disabled the networks they wanted to infect. They pushed the Ukrainians to use alternative and more secure methods of communication, and this improved their resilience," writes Jeremy Fleming.
He devotes part of the column to how the Allies, including Britain, contributed to thwarting Russia's plans, and what conclusions they drew from their observations during six months of the war.
"As of now, President Putin has generally lost the information war in Ukraine and in the West. But although this is a reason for rejoicing, the influence of Russian disinformation in other countries of the world should not be underestimated," he writes, noting that among them are countries from the largest population in the world.
"This is another front of the war in Ukraine and its consequences will be felt as long as the war lasts. We must oppose organized state disinformation campaigns and make sure that they cannot silence international indignation at the actions of the Russian Federation," Jeremy Fleming emphasizes.
As reported by Ukrainian News Agency, success in the information war is no less important than combat operations at the front.
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