According to Bloomberg and MIT Technology Review, a group of activists-hackers from Belarus have infiltrated nearly every area of the authoritarian government to overthrow the Lukashenko regime. The hackers are known as Belarus Cyber Partisans. They leak information from government and police networks. After the country's disputed elections, where Alexander Lukashenko won, they began to hack government websites in protest. They also publish information on Telegram, which has 77,000 subscribers.
According to the group, it is made up of 15 cybersecurity and IT experts who work in the country's technology sector. Tech Review spoke out to say that none of the group members are "professional hackers" and only four of them do "ethical hacking".
The Partisans gained access to drone footage of the crackdown on protests last summer and the Ministry of Interior Affairs mobile phone surveillance database. The Partisans also reportedly had access to audio recordings of emergency services and video feeds from road speed cameras and isolation cell surveillance camera cameras. Over the past weeks, the group has released data including lists of alleged police informants and personal information about top government officials.
Cyber Partisans are able to penetrate the government's networks thanks to BYPOL's assistance. According to reports, they reached out to BYPOL for guidance in December 2020. The group is comprised of ex-Lukashenko officials and current leaders who are working to overthrow the regime from within.
BYPOL gives them information about how to penetrate government agencies and the structure of administration's databases. The Cyber Partisans give the group information that it can use for investigating the crimes of the regime in return. BYPOL publishes information via Telegram and creates documentaries. One of these documentaries was used at a congressional hearing which led to US sanctions being imposed against the Lukashenko regime.
Tech Review was informed by a Cyber Partisan spokesperson that cyberattacks are being used to "paralyze the regime's security forces and to sabotage its infrastructure weaknesses and provide protection for protesters." Their ultimate goal is to stop violence and repression by the terroristic regime of Belarus and bring the country back into democratic principles and the rule of law.
