Cyberwar Descends on an Unprepared Moldova

As Russian troops were gathering for their invasion of Ukraine early last year, the computer systems that neighboring Moldova used to manage its security operations along its 760-mile border with Ukraine came under attack. The previously unreported attack, which could have disrupted Moldova’s ability to handle the flow of Ukrainian refugees and grain, was followed by a series of similar incursions. As the war progressed, pro-Russian social media accounts spread false claims designed to discredit the Moldovan government, and trolls bombarded Moldovan authorities with thousands of fake bomb threats. In August, hackers breached email servers used by the Moldovan president’s office; in November, hackers also published thousands of private messages they claimed to have stolen from Ana Revenco, Moldova’s minister of internal affairs, and Sergiu Litvinenco, who was then serving as minister of justice.

Moldovan officials say the campaign of cyberattacks and disinformation has continued as the war drags on. They describe it as a deliberate attempt to undermine—or even displace—a government friendly to the West in a country abutting the war zone. The cyberwarfare, combined with economic damage caused by the war, has the potential to be deeply destabilizing. “They want to scare the population to infuse a constant sense of panic, of fear,” Revenco says. “It’s a test that we have never been subject to since our independence.”