Citizens enjoy their time at a cafe in the city center of Kyiv as daily life continues amid Russia-Ukraine war in Ukraine on March 03, 2023.
Citizens enjoy their time at a cafe in Kyiv as daily life continues amid Russia-Ukraine war in Ukraine on March 03, 2023.
  • Russian hackers are using "creative" ways to tap into cameras in Ukraine, according to a US official. 
  • "They're looking out the coffee shop security camera and seeing the road they need to see," he said. 
  • US defense manufacturers are also under "daily pressure" from Russian hackers, said NSA's Rob Joyce.

Russian hackers are using "creative" ways to tap into security cameras in Ukraine, including monitoring private cameras in cafes to collect intelligence on Western military supplies and aid, a top US security official said on Tuesday.

Rob Joyce, the director of cybersecurity at the National Security Agency, said that hackers in Russia are attacking technology systems as a part of the country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

During a talk at the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington, Joyce said there are "creative things going on" in the context of Russian intelligence collection and continued attacks on Ukrainian interests that are "just trying to be disruptive." 

"We're watching the Russian hackers log into public-facing webcams to watch convoys and trains delivering aid," the NSA official said. 

He added that while hackers are logging into closed-circuit cameras in public, they are also hacking into cameras on private properties.

"Instead of using the town square that's available to the internet, they're looking out the coffee shop security camera and seeing the road they need to see," he added

US defense manufacturers and logistical transport companies are also under "daily pressure from the Russians," Joyce said, as they use their hacking efforts to try to understand what"lethal aid" the West is delivering to Ukraine's war effort.

On both sides of the conflict in Ukraine, hacking efforts and electronic warfare are significant, although Russian hacking has been an increasing concern for the US military, Insider previously reported.

Read the original article on Business Insider