Even before Russian troops poured across the border into Ukraine last month, Western observers had warned of massive attacks on Ukraine’s IT infrastructure, likely launched by Russian government agents or, by proxy, private hackers which give the government plausible deniability.

The entire range of cyberattacks is within Russia’s capabilities, from blocking banking systems, shutting down power grids and cutting the water supply, to sabotaging communication networks.

Hackers close to the government have in the past targeted corporate IT structures, government websites, planted ransomware and plundered sensitive data as part of espionage efforts, experts say. But in the war against Ukraine, the order for all out cyber-war does not appear to have been given or, if it was, has not translated into much success.