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CyberBerkut

resembles emblem of special police unit "Berkut"
Formation	c. 2014
Type	Virtual community; Voluntary association
Purpose	Internet activism; Internet vigilantism
Region served	Ukraine
Membership	Unknown
Website	cyber-berkut.ru or cyber-berkut.org

CyberBerkut (Russian: КиберБеркут, Ukrainian: КіберБеркут) is a modern organized group of pro-Russian hacktivists.^[1] The group became locally known for a series of publicity stunts and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on Ukrainian government, and western or Ukrainian corporate websites.^[2] By 2018, this group was accused by western intelligence agencies, such as National Cyber Security Centre (United Kingdom) of being linked to the GRU, providing plausible deniability.^[3]

The group emerged after the dissolution of special police force "Berkut" that became notorious for its violent repression used during the EuroMaidan demonstrations.^[4] The group is anonymous.^{[citation needed]} Their proclaimed goals are fighting against neo-fascism, neo-nationalism and arbitrary power in Ukraine.^{[citation needed]} To further this aim, CyberBerkut activists targeted the "Right Sector" IT resources.^{[citation needed]} CyberBerkut targets included NATO, and its allies.^[5]

• Attacks on NATO websites.^[6][7]
• Attacks on U.S. private military companies.^[8]
• Publication of correspondence of deputies of (political parties) Batkivshchyna and Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform.^[9]
• Publication of correspondence with the United States Embassy in Ukraine and United States foundations.^[10]
• Disclosure to public of telephone recording between Yulia Tymoshenko and Nestor Shufrych.^{[11][nb 1]}
• Disclosure to public of telephone recording between EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton and Foreign Minister of Estonia Urmas Paet.^[13]
• Blocking cellular phones of members of the Yatsenyuk Government and persons close to them.^[14]
• Blocking Internet resources of Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine Andriy Parubiy and news portals: LigaBusinessInform and Ukrainian Independent Information Agency.^[15]
• Publication of video materials that are blocked on YouTube.^[1]
• Attempts at disrupting the recruitment of the National Guard of Ukraine.^{[citation needed]}
• Attempted destruction of the electronic system of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine prior to the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election.^{[citation needed]}
• Publishing lists of alleged Ukrainian military deserters^{[citation needed]}
• Attempts at disrupting the work of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine by damaging the IFES system before the elections and blocking cellphones of their organisators.^[16][17]
• Temporary disruption of the websites of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the General Prosecutor of Ukraine. Websites of TV channels 1+1 and Inter were also temporary disrupted ^{[citation needed]}.
• Email hacking and publication of the conversation between Ihor Kolomoyskyi and the persecutor of the Lviv Oblast, hacking of the computer and email of a person related to Ihor Kolomoyskiy.^[18][19][20] Archives of the contents of 89 email accounts of Lviv oblast's prosecutor office employees.
• Hacking and publishing of the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov's conversation.^[21]
• Blocking of the website of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko on 29 June 2014.^[22]
• Publication of the real name and biography of Semen Semenchenko – Konstantin Grishin.^[23]
• Hacking of the German Chancellery and the German Bundestag^[24][5]
• Hacked U.S. Senator John McCain's computers during a visit to Ukraine in 2015 and released a video depicting a fake ISIS beheading video being filmed^[25]

The group also publishes pro-Donetsk People's Republic videos.^[1] In one of them it is claimed that Ukrainian security forces are living under a "Jewish occupation".^[1]

• Repeated blocking of CB's Facebook pages, although new ones have been made on the following day ^{[citation needed]}.
• Likely in response to attacking the websites of Greystone Limited and Triple Canopy, CyberBerkut's websites have been temporarily disrupted. The websites started to work again on the following day.^{[citation needed]}
• Arrests of people suspected in relation to CyberBerkut.^[26]

• Hacktivism
• Internet activism
• Hacker (term)
• Denial-of-service attack
• Trolls from Olgino
• Anonymous (group)

• Official website
• CyberBerkut on Facebook
• CyberBerkut on Twitter