Hillicon Valley — Ukraine war spotlights cyber operations

by Ines Kagubare, Rebecca Klar and Chris Mills Rodrigo - 06/20/22 7:08 PM ET

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By drafting a new United Nations cybercrime treaty, Russia and China seek to legitimize authoritarian internet control and undermine digital human rights.

Cyber strategies in Russia’s war against Ukraine show how increasingly complex cyber warfare may be used in future conflicts.

And in tech news, Facebook has removed a video from a Missouri Republican senatorial candidate, saying it violates its policy against inciting violence.

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar, Chris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

A look at the future of cyber warfare

Russia’s war on Ukraine has been largely defined by indiscriminate shelling and grinding exchange of artillery, but it has also shown how cyberspace will be a central battleground in the future of global conflicts.

Early Russian cyberattacks were a harbinger of a ground war to come, and the battle for hearts and minds is now largely playing out online. And Russia has strategically timed cyberattacks for advantage in its on-the-ground assaults.

Experts said all of these components will likely be present in future global conflicts, with the Russia-Ukraine war cementing cyberspace as an intrinsic component of modern warfare.

“I believe the future of cyberwarfare is going to be more complex, more sophisticated and a lot more destructive,” said Paul Capasso, vice president of strategic programs at Telos, a cybersecurity firm based in Virginia.

Facebook takes down Greitens’ video

Facebook on Monday removed a video from Missouri Republican Senate candidate Eric Greitens in which he holds a shotgun and urges supporters to “get a RINO hunting permit.”

A spokesperson for Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said the video showing Greitens breaking into a house with a gun in hand was removed “for violating our policies prohibiting violence and incitement.”
Greitens hit back with a Facebook post accusing the tech giant of censoring him, similar to accusations a number of Republicans have made against social media platforms.
“Facebook CENSORED our new ad calling out the weak RINOs. When I get to the US Senate, we are taking on Big Tech,” he wrote.

Twitter did not remove the video, but added a label and limited engagement with the post.

One more thing: Democrats press Google

A group of Democratic senators and representatives called on Google to look into search results and ads tied to “anti-abortion ‘fake clinics’.”

The request comes amid a recent report that showed the prevalence of these clinics in 13 states with so-called “trigger laws,” which would almost immediately ban or severely restrict abortion should Roe v. Wade be overturned by the Supreme Court.

Thirteen senators and eight representatives signed a letter to Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google parent company Alphabet Inc., dated Friday in which they highlighted a report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) that showed that in 13 states with trigger laws, searches for “abortion pill” or “abortion clinic near me” showed clinics that did not provide those services 11 percent of the time.

Those clinics, which CCDH noted are referred to as “pregnancy resource centers” or “crisis pregnancy centers,” generally seek to dissuade people from having abortions and instead urge them to choose adoption or motherhood.