Ukraine is calling on Amazon, Google and Microsoft to stop “inadvertently” aiding the Kremlin’s war machine, The i Paper can reveal.
The tech giants’ online tools are being used by Russian forces to guide missiles and direct troops on the frontline of its war with Ukraine, according to Kyiv’s State Cyber Protection Center.
Its deputy head, Volodymyr Stryan, urged the “big three” tech groups to block their services from Russian forces, who are using their maps and weather forecasts in mobile technology tools to help Vladimir Putin’s generals target Ukraine’s military, infrastructure and civilians.
“Developers of the Russian mobile apps create military tools for operational automation of, for instance, precision strikes,” said Stryan. He added there is no suggestion tech firms are knowingly making their tools available to Russian forces.
His investigation identified 243 military mobile apps developed in Russia for Google’s Android platform that download critical Western maps and weather data from cloud services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.
Cloud computing enables the delivery of services such as data storage and computing power over the internet.
Sixty-two of the apps in the investigation are used solely for military purposes, such as precise missile and drone strikes on Ukrainian targets to help Russia’s illegal war. It comes as Russia launched it largest air attack on Ukraine on Saturday.
“These tools require certain mission-critical data such as geospatial intelligence – satellite maps – and meteorological data streams,” said Stryan, whose office sits within the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP) – the Ukrainian equivalent of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre.
“And providers of that crucial data in turn use cloud infrastructure, and in particular the big three.”
The revelations follow Russia’s most intense bombardment of Ukraine since Moscow launched his full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022. The drone and cruise missile onslaught caused US President Donald Trump to accuse Putin of going “absolutely crazy”.
The probe found some of the military apps use Google’s Firebase platform for storage. While they are not made publicly available on the company’s app store Google Play, they can be downloaded to Android devices used by Russia’s soldiers on the Ukrainian front line.
Google did not respond to specific questions but did point to its use policy on its website. While this policy refers to blocking certain services in the Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, it does not rule out use of its services within Russia itself.
The policy states: “Google Workspace is available in most countries and regions. However, Google restricts access to some of its business services in certain countries or regions, such as Crimea, Cuba, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic, Iran, North Korea, and Syria.
“Certain Google services might be available in these countries or regions for personal use, but not for business or education use.”
At least 12 people were killed in the largest Russian air attack of the war that struck dozens of targets across Ukraine over the weekend (Photo: Ukrainian State Emergency Service Press Service/AFP)Stryan will present his full findings at Nato’s International Conference on Cyber Conflict in Estonia on Tuesday.
He will call on companies including Amazon, Google and Microsoft to ensure Russian app developers are blocked from access to Western tech services and mission-critical data, or risk being “an accomplice to a war crime”.
He said: “The providers of infrastructure, if doing that deliberately, knowingly and within some operational planning, they could be an accomplice to a war crime, if that is what resulted from such activity. But none of them, I think, is doing it deliberately. I believe it is happening inadvertently.”
Evidence was unearthed to show the Russian military apps’ files are using data sourced from Western tech giants.
Stryan’s analysis revealed a heavy reliance of Russian military apps on data sourced from the international cloud platforms.
AWS accounted for 33 per cent of the Russian internet addresses connected to the downloads, Google Cloud Platform represented 14 per cent, while Microsoft Azure accounted for 1.3 per cent.
‘A moral obligation to act’
An AWS spokesman said: “Since the start of the war, teams from AWS have been working with Ukraine government officials to help keep vital government services operating and support Ukrainian customers and partners to keep their applications secure.
“We have not previously been notified of these claims or provided with any specific examples; we’ve asked the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine if they can provide further detail.”
Microsoft was asked for comment but had not responded at the time of publication.
Former Conservative defence secretary Sir Grant Shapps backed Ukraine’s call for the tech groups to prevent access to their services from Russia.
“It cannot be right that the same platforms we use to run our businesses and educate our children are also helping to guide missile strikes on Ukrainian cities,” Shapps told The i Paper.
“Big tech has both the capability and the moral obligation to act.”
He added: “Amazon, Microsoft and Google should urgently review these claims and take immediate steps to block the developers involved.”
Joseph Jarnecki, a research fellow in cyber and tech at the Royal United Services Institute, added: “Hopefully this is a wake-up call for technology companies to more effectively track what they’re selling and to who.”
The UK Government was contacted for comment.
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