Last month, tech giant Amazon put out a warning that "malicious state actors" had targeted NGOs working in Ukraine. It’s just one of several reports of what are feared to be Russian cyberattacks against humanitarian organizations in the region since Russia invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24.
This follows a pattern from other conflict zones, where NGOs delivering humanitarian aid or supporting refugees have been targeted. Earlier this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it had been the victim of a major hack, which it said was likely to have come from a “state-like” group.
Over the past two years, Olivia Williams, an information security specialist and former aid worker, has studied NGOs to find out how vulnerable they are to cyberattacks.