A chilling Russian cyber aim in Ukraine: Digital dossiers

By FRANK BAJAK
AP Technology Writer

BOSTON (AP) — Data collection has been a focus of Russia’s relentless hacking of Ukraine. Cybersecurity researchers and military intelligence analysts say that by amassing detailed dossiers on individual citizens, Russia can more easily identify and locate Ukrainians most likely to resist an occupation. Then those Ukrainians could be targeted for internment or worse. Ukrainian agencies breached on the eve of Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion include one that oversees the police, the national guard and the border patrol. A month earlier, a Ukrainian national database of automobile insurance policies was raided. The deputy secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council says personal data continues to be a priority for Russian hackers.