Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.&nbsp;

Russian police has claimed that it spotted advertisements with orders for terrorist attacks against Moscow on the darknet, as per a statement by the country's interior ministry.

The secret darknet includes websites that can be accessed only with specific software or authorisations, ensuring anonymity for users.

"In the course of monitoring the Internet, employees of the Russian Interior Ministry revealed a number of ads calling for terrorist activities in the shadow segment of the network, on the Hydra site, as well as in social networks and instant messengers," the ministry said.

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"According to available information, announcements of calls for illegal acts are distributed by call centers located in Ukraine. The police suggest that previously these centers could engage in phone fraud against Russian citizens and other criminal acts," the interior ministry added.

The attackers offered to carry out terrorist attacks for money, including against the state authorities of Russia in the material posted online.

The Russian interior ministry has requested "citizens not to respond to provocative proposals distributed on the Internet."

The local police said that ''Participation in terrorist activities, hooliganism and other illegal acts entail criminal liability.''

Also see |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/photos/ukraine-war-russias-hunt-for-drone-killer-uav-concept-revealed-457886" hreflang="en">Ukraine war: Russia's hunt for 'drone-killer UAV concept' revealed</a>

With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counterclaims, determining exactly what is happening is difficult.

As Russian and Ukrainian websites fall victim to cyber attacks and Moscow restricts access to some foreign social media, internet users across both countries have turned to online tools to help circumvent the blocks.

Demand for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that encrypt data and obscure where a user is located has soared, data from monitoring firm Top10VPN showed, peaking 354 per cent&nbsp;higher in Russia on Sunday when compared to the daily average from February&nbsp;16-23.

Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation", invaded its neighbour on February 24, attacking from land, sea and air. At home, it is battling to control the narrative, threatening restrictions on foreign and local media that stray from its official version of events.

Photos and videos were slow to load on Facebook, owned by Meta Platforms Inc, and Twitter, both of which have been targeted by state communications regulator Roskomnadzor.

Also read |&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/technology/microsoft-to-remove-rt-apps-ban-russian-state-owned-media-ads-457704" hreflang="en">Microsoft to remove RT apps, ban Russian state-owned media ads</a>

"VPN demand surged in Russia as authorities restricted Facebook and Twitter over the weekend in a bid to control the flow of information from its invasion of Ukraine," Top10VPN said.

Russia banned several VPNs last year, but has failed to block them entirely, as part of a wider campaign critics say stifles internet freedom.

In Ukraine, Russian hackers were blamed for a spate of cyberattacks that briefly knocked Ukrainian banking and government websites offline, days before the invasion. Russia denied involvement.

VPN demand in Ukraine began noticeably increasing on February 15 in light of cyberattacks, Top10VPN said, and skyrocketed after the invasion, with demand peaking 424 per cent&nbsp;higher than the daily average in the first half of February.

On Monday, the websites of several Russian media outlets were hacked, with their regular sites replaced by an anti-war message and calls to stop President Vladimir Putin's invasion.

(With inputs from agencies)

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos. Russian police has claimed that it spotted advertisements with orders for terrorist attacks against Moscow on the darknet, as per a statement by the country's interior ministry. The secret darknet includes websites that can be accessed only with specific software or authorisations, ensuring anonymity for users. "In the course of monitoring the Internet, employees of the Russian Interior Ministry revealed a number of ads calling for terrorist activities in the shadow segment of the network, on the Hydra site, as well as in social networks and instant messengers," the ministry said. "According to available information, announcements of calls for illegal acts are distributed by call centers located in Ukraine. The police suggest that previously these centers could engage in phone fraud against Russian citizens and other criminal acts," the interior ministry added. The attackers offered to carry out terrorist attacks for money, including against the state authorities of Russia in the material posted online. The Russian interior ministry has requested "citizens not to respond to provocative proposals distributed on the Internet." The local police said that ''Participation in terrorist activities, hooliganism and other illegal acts entail criminal liability.'' Also see | Ukraine war: Russia's hunt for 'drone-killer UAV concept' revealed With disinformation rife and social media amplifying military claims and counterclaims, determining exactly what is happening is difficult. As Russian and Ukrainian websites fall victim to cyber attacks and Moscow restricts access to some foreign social media, internet users across both countries have turned to online tools to help circumvent the blocks. Demand for Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) that encrypt data and obscure where a user is located has soared, data from monitoring firm Top10VPN showed, peaking 354 per cent higher in Russia on Sunday when compared to the daily average from February 16-23. Russia, which calls its actions in Ukraine a "special operation", invaded its neighbour on February 24, attacking from land, sea and air. At home, it is battling to control the narrative, threatening restrictions on foreign and local media that stray from its official version of events. Photos and videos were slow to load on Facebook, owned by Meta Platforms Inc, and Twitter, both of which have been targeted by state communications regulator Roskomnadzor. Also read | Microsoft to remove RT apps, ban Russian state-owned media ads "VPN demand surged in Russia as authorities restricted Facebook and Twitter over the weekend in a bid to control the flow of information from its invasion of Ukraine," Top10VPN said. Russia banned several VPNs last year, but has failed to block them entirely, as part of a wider campaign critics say stifles internet freedom. In Ukraine, Russian hackers were blamed for a spate of cyberattacks that briefly knocked Ukrainian banking and government websites offline, days before the invasion. Russia denied involvement. VPN demand in Ukraine began noticeably increasing on February 15 in light of cyberattacks, Top10VPN said, and skyrocketed after the invasion, with demand peaking 424 per cent higher than the daily average in the first half of February. On Monday, the websites of several Russian media outlets were hacked, with their regular sites replaced by an anti-war message and calls to stop President Vladimir Putin's invasion. (With inputs from agencies)

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A fast-moving wave of cyberattacks swept the globe Friday, apparently exploiting a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency.

The attacks -- which experts said affected dozens of countries -- used a technique known as ransomware that locks users&#39; files unless they pay the attackers a designated sum in the virtual currency Bitcoin.

Affected by the onslaught were computer networks at hospitals in Britain, Russia&#39;s interior ministry, the Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and the US delivery firm FedEx and many other organizations.

Britain&#39;s National Cyber Security Centre and its National Crime Agency were looking into the UK incidents, which disrupted care at National Health Service facilities.

&quot;This is not targeted at the NHS, it&#39;s an international attack and a number of countries and organizations have been affected,&quot; British Prime Minister Theresa May said.

Russia&#39;s interior ministry said that some of its computers had been hit by a &quot;virus attack&quot; and that efforts were underway to destroy it.

The US Department of Homeland Security&#39;s computer emergency response team said it was aware of ransomware infections &quot;in several countries around the world.&quot;

Jakub Kroustek of the security firm Avast said in a blog post update around 2000 GMT, &nbsp;&quot;We are now seeing more than 75,000 detections... in 99 countries.&quot;

Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu cited 45,000 attacks in 74 countries, saying that the malware, a self-replicating &quot;worm,&quot; was spreading quickly.

In a statement, Kaspersky Labs said it was &quot;trying to determine whether it is possible to decrypt data locked in the attack -- with the aim of developing a decryption tool as soon as possible.&quot;

&#39;Unequivocally scary&#39; 
&quot;It&#39;s unequivocally scary,&quot; said John Dickson of the Denim Group, a US security consultancy.

Dickson said the malware itself, which exploits a flaw in Windows, was not new but that adding the ransomware &quot;payload&quot; made it especially dangerous.

&quot;I&#39;m watching how far this propagates and when governments get involved,&quot; he said.

The malware&#39;s name is WCry, but analysts were also using variants such as WannaCry.

Forcepoint Security Labs said in a statement that the attack had &quot;global scope&quot; and was affecting networks in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico.

In the United States, FedEx acknowledged it had been hit by malware and was &quot;implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible.&quot;

Britain&#39;s National Health Service declared a &quot;major incident&quot; after the attack, which forced some hospitals to divert ambulances and scrap operations.

Message to users: &#39;Oops&#39; 
Pictures posted on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 (275 euros) in Bitcoin, saying: &quot;Ooops, your files have been encrypted!&quot;

It demands payment in three days or the price is doubled, and if none is received in seven days, the files will be deleted, according to the screen message.

A hacking group called Shadow Brokers released the malware in April claiming to have discovered the flaw from the NSA, Kaspersky said.

Although Microsoft released a security patch for the flaw earlier this year, many systems have yet to be updated, researchers said.

&quot;Unlike most other attacks, this malware is spreading primarily by direct infection from machine to machine on local networks, rather than purely by email,&quot; Lance Cottrell, chief scientist at the US technology group Ntrepid.&nbsp;

&quot;The ransomware can spread without anyone opening an email or clicking on a link.&quot;

The sort of ransom demands have been growing precedent at medical facilities. In February 2016, a Los Angeles hospital, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, paid $17,000 in Bitcoin to hackers who took control of its computers for more than a week.

&quot;Ransomware becomes particularly nasty when it infects institutions like hospitals, where it can put people&#39;s lives in danger,&quot; said Kroustek, the Avast analyst.

A spokesman for Barts Health NHS Trust in London said it was experiencing &quot;major IT disruption&quot; and delays at all four of its hospitals.

&quot;We have activated our major incident plan to make sure we can maintain the safety and welfare of patients,&quot; the spokesman said. &quot;Ambulances are being diverted to neighboring hospitals.&quot;

Two employees at St Bartholomew&#39;s Hospital, which is part of Barts Health, told AFP that all the computers in the hospital had been turned off.

Caroline Brennan, 41, went to the hospital to see her brother, who had open heart surgery.

&quot;They told us there was a problem. They said the system was down and that they cannot transfer anyone till the computer system was back up,&quot; Brennan said.

Some said the attacks highlighted the need for agencies like the NSA to disclose security flaws so they can be patched.

&quot;These attacks underscore the fact that vulnerabilities will be exploited not just by our security agencies, but by hackers and criminals around the world,&quot; said Patrick Toomey of the American Civil Liberties Union.

(AFP) 
&nbsp;

The ransomware locked users' files unless they paid up, in Bitcoin.

A fast-moving wave of cyberattacks swept the globe Friday, apparently exploiting a flaw exposed in documents leaked from the US National Security Agency. The attacks -- which experts said affected dozens of countries -- used a technique known as ransomware that locks users' files unless they pay the attackers a designated sum in the virtual currency Bitcoin. Affected by the onslaught were computer networks at hospitals in Britain, Russia's interior ministry, the Spanish telecom giant Telefonica and the US delivery firm FedEx and many other organizations. Britain's National Cyber Security Centre and its National Crime Agency were looking into the UK incidents, which disrupted care at National Health Service facilities. "This is not targeted at the NHS, it's an international attack and a number of countries and organizations have been affected," British Prime Minister Theresa May said. Russia's interior ministry said that some of its computers had been hit by a "virus attack" and that efforts were underway to destroy it. The US Department of Homeland Security's computer emergency response team said it was aware of ransomware infections "in several countries around the world." Jakub Kroustek of the security firm Avast said in a blog post update around 2000 GMT, "We are now seeing more than 75,000 detections... in 99 countries." Kaspersky researcher Costin Raiu cited 45,000 attacks in 74 countries, saying that the malware, a self-replicating "worm," was spreading quickly. In a statement, Kaspersky Labs said it was "trying to determine whether it is possible to decrypt data locked in the attack -- with the aim of developing a decryption tool as soon as possible." 'Unequivocally scary' "It's unequivocally scary," said John Dickson of the Denim Group, a US security consultancy. Dickson said the malware itself, which exploits a flaw in Windows, was not new but that adding the ransomware "payload" made it especially dangerous. "I'm watching how far this propagates and when governments get involved," he said. The malware's name is WCry, but analysts were also using variants such as WannaCry. Forcepoint Security Labs said in a statement that the attack had "global scope" and was affecting networks in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and Mexico. In the United States, FedEx acknowledged it had been hit by malware and was "implementing remediation steps as quickly as possible." Britain's National Health Service declared a "major incident" after the attack, which forced some hospitals to divert ambulances and scrap operations. Message to users: 'Oops' Pictures posted on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 (275 euros) in Bitcoin, saying: "Ooops, your files have been encrypted!" It demands payment in three days or the price is doubled, and if none is received in seven days, the files will be deleted, according to the screen message. A hacking group called Shadow Brokers released the malware in April claiming to have discovered the flaw from the NSA, Kaspersky said. Although Microsoft released a security patch for the flaw earlier this year, many systems have yet to be updated, researchers said. "Unlike most other attacks, this malware is spreading primarily by direct infection from machine to machine on local networks, rather than purely by email," Lance Cottrell, chief scientist at the US technology group Ntrepid. "The ransomware can spread without anyone opening an email or clicking on a link." The sort of ransom demands have been growing precedent at medical facilities. In February 2016, a Los Angeles hospital, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, paid $17,000 in Bitcoin to hackers who took control of its computers for more than a week. "Ransomware becomes particularly nasty when it infects institutions like hospitals, where it can put people's lives in danger," said Kroustek, the Avast analyst. A spokesman for Barts Health NHS Trust in London said it was experiencing "major IT disruption" and delays at all four of its hospitals. "We have activated our major incident plan to make sure we can maintain the safety and welfare of patients," the spokesman said. "Ambulances are being diverted to neighboring hospitals." Two employees at St Bartholomew's Hospital, which is part of Barts Health, told AFP that all the computers in the hospital had been turned off. Caroline Brennan, 41, went to the hospital to see her brother, who had open heart surgery. "They told us there was a problem. They said the system was down and that they cannot transfer anyone till the computer system was back up," Brennan said. Some said the attacks highlighted the need for agencies like the NSA to disclose security flaws so they can be patched. "These attacks underscore the fact that vulnerabilities will be exploited not just by our security agencies, but by hackers and criminals around the world," said Patrick Toomey of the American Civil Liberties Union. (AFP)

Fast-moving cyberattacks wreak havoc worldwide