Why so many hackers are Russian

“They're trying to distinguish themselves with bold attacks. Hackers are usually idealistic, nationalistic, driven individuals with an agenda” – Ted Miracco.

Russian hackers are everywhere, and they attack everything. No one is safe, whether it’s companies, infrastructure, or politicians.

Despite all the tales of Russian hackers destroying everything around them, it’s difficult to tell how they hack, who they work for, and most importantly, who they are.

Hackers hide behind aliases and carefully crafted masks to evade authorities and continue on their quest.

To understand these unknown Russian hackers, we need to get into the mind of one.

Although we can’t truly understand what a Russian hacker is like from first-hand experience, they’re understandably not up for an interview.

However, from our extensive research of the topic, we’ve accumulated information about Russian hackers and pieced it together to create a Frankenstein monster of hackers.

Although the hacktivist in this story isn’t real, it gives us a glimpse into the mind of a Russian hacker, what motivates them, and how they operate.

Example 1: Leonid

Meet Leonid, a 16-year-old from one of the larger cities in Russia. Despite hating it, Leonid spends most of his time at school, but when he’s free from the shackles of the education system, he longs for time on his computer. He’ll spend hours on his device playing games, watching movies, and listening to music.

Leonid not only loves what you would expect from a typical teenager, but he is also massively patriotic. He loves his country – not that he’s into politics – but he believes that Russia should be the strongest, most powerful country in the world.

Leonid also believes his country is under threat.

He sees it everywhere. On TV and the internet, it's written all over the country’s face:

‘The whole world is against Russia.’

“We must destroy Russia and all of its people,” he hears the West say. Well, at least that’s what he hears Russian media saying.

Leonid is even more certain that if Russia has suffered, it’s because of foreign conspiracies.

“My dad has alcoholism and left home,” Leonid thinks. “The economy is stagnating, and my family is barely holding on despite payouts,” Leonid concludes. “This is why I no longer have a brother.”

“Something has to be done,” he thinks, “I can’t join the army like my brother,” Leonid is not brave or stupid enough to do that.

“I need to do something else, become something else.” And so he did – enter ‘The Dark Diver.’

‘The Dark Diver’ is born

Leonid integrates into an underground hacking gang. Although he’s small fry, he learns fast by observing his superiors.

The high-ranking members of the gang follow the news and have a good understanding of their “craft.” Every few days they come up with a set of targets and create their game plan.

The group mainly focuses on distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). They use a collection of infected devices called botnets to send requests and jam the victim's servers, ultimately shutting down the sites.

The botnet isn’t large or that sophisticated, but it does the job. When they need something with a little more gusto, they all pay a little bit of money and buy some traffic from someone on the dark web.

Leonid’s group is always on the hunt. When they’re not executing DDoS attacks, they’re looking to deface websites or steal data. With this scraped data from leaks, they may send a few phishing emails. Every little helps.

If they’re lucky, they’ll even infect their target’s computer with ransomware, which encrypts files and ultimately renders the device inoperable.

Although each attack is different, and the tactics the gang uses may vary, there’s one unifying factor – all targets are “enemies” of the state.

They’re not fussy about who they pick. It could be an institution of some random European country whose government said something negative about Russia. Or, it might be an American company – as the US is the ultimate enemy. The gang will also frequently target Ukraine because that’s just the way it is.

“My brother would be so proud,” thinks Leonid whenever the gang attacks Ukraine.

“I’m a hacktivist,” believes Leonid. Many people worldwide believe that they’re hacking for the greater good. Whether or not this is true is not for me to decide.

But trust me, if you’ve seen an irritating cyberattack recently, Leonid’s group has probably orchestrated it, not because of the devastation caused but because of the attack angle.

The gang chooses to target something in particular, something that can’t be easily ignored, and attacks it in the simplest way possible.

Then, they post on social media, bragging about their exploits. Whether or not it was successful doesn’t matter to them because the outcome is so much better.

People then start picking up the attack.

Hacktivist groups.

Influencers.

Newsrooms.

All the pieces start falling into place.

The buzz, the media presence, and the idea that their targets are vulnerable is all the gang ever wanted. The rest is a bonus.

Leonid’s gang wants to cause as much petty damage as possible. They wish to sow doubt and mistrust in corporations, businesses, and critical infrastructure.

“That’s the only way to fight the enemy,” Leonid thinks.

Because if you are in Russia, every ounce of information points to one common denominator – the West.

“They are responsible for the suffering of my people,” Leonid asserts. “I hate the West with my entire being.”

So, Leonid directs his anger, frustration, and sadness to his computer, which helps give him a sense of relief and purpose.

He’s addicted to the rush he feels when hacking. That sense of satisfaction, the rush of adrenaline that you can’t get from Call of Duty or any other video game.

Leonid believes that his world, his country, is collapsing around him. He dissociates from the real world and escapes into the online world of underground Russian hackers.

The young teenager has never felt this sense of community or camaraderie with anyone from his school. He’s always felt like an outsider.

The good news for Leonid is that there’s no longer life outside his hacking community. The name he was given is no longer his as he wears a new mask.

No more destitute Soviet apartment blocks, no more misery and depravity. He has been transported to his own tribe, a group with a shared vision – to eliminate the enemy – one server, business, and website at a time.

Maybe one day, Leonid will make a living out of hacking. But for the time being, he’s happy “serving his country”

“For the greater good,” Leonid says, “for Russia.”