Ukrainian coders are dedicating their time to both work and cyber warfare.

• A Telegram group called "IT Army of Ukraine" has gained over 311,000 members.
• Ukraine is one of the biggest software development hubs in Eastern Europe.
• Its coders are world-renowned.

Ukrainian coders are juggling their daily work with fighting a cyber war against Russia.

A significant number of people from Ukraine have joined a group called "IT Army of Ukraine" on Telegram, where Russian targets are shared, according to members of the group who spoke to CNBC.

Since the war began, a Ukrainian software engineer, who chose to remain anonymous due to the nature of his remarks, revealed to CNBC that the group he belongs to has assisted in carrying out cyberattacks against Russian government websites, banks, and currency exchanges outside of their regular jobs.

He stated that he was assisting the IT Army in conducting DDoS attacks, which involve overwhelming a website with excessive internet traffic in an attempt to disrupt its normal operation.

He rented a few servers on GCP and created a bot that targets attacks at websites when links are pasted. He typically runs attacks from 3-5 servers, with each server producing approximately 50,000 requests per second.

Whenever a list of targets is shared on the Telegram channel, Dave claims he pastes them into a bot he created in about an hour.

He stated that it is difficult to determine the success of the combined actions because the attacks are executed by thousands of individuals simultaneously.

Around 30 Ukrainians, including Dave, work remotely for a U.S. tech consultancy firm that has made work "fully optional" for its Ukrainian employees.

Oleksii, a software company's quality assurance team lead in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, shared with CNBC that despite their efforts to maintain work and stimulate the economy, it has been challenging.

As the war began, the air raid sirens wailed incessantly for 24 hours, making it impossible to focus on work. All that could be thought about were family, children, and how to protect them from harm.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24th, Oleksii has been working no more than two hours per day. "It's difficult to prioritize professional work during challenging times," he stated.

Oleksii, an IT worker, is striving to aid Ukraine in its cyberwar efforts by utilizing his skills in the digital realm. He hopes to contribute to the fight on the digital frontline, as the war is taking place in the digital world. On a regular basis, he works to persuade European and U.S. websites to cease doing business with Russia and to post about the conflict on social media.

Gazprom and Sberbank targeted

Anton, another developer, admitted to personally participating in a DDoS attack on Gazprom, Sberbank, and the Russian government. No immediate response was received from these entities when CNBC requested comment.

"It doesn't take a long time to bring down a service because many people participate in attacking it," he said to CNBC.

Nikita, CEO and co-founder of a cybersecurity firm, revealed that he is a member of the IT Army of Ukraine Telegram channel. His company provides services to clients worldwide and its employees have remained operational during the Russian invasion. They specialize in "penetration testing" and identifying vulnerabilities in IT systems.

Nikita revealed to CNBC that he has been using messaging services to inform Russian citizens about the truth in Ukraine, despite tight media restrictions from Moscow. He also shared that he and his hacking team have been publishing Russian credit card details online. Nikita stated that he has published over 110,000 credit card details in Telegram channels and aims to cause economic harm to Russia.

Nikita stated that they want to send them back to the Stone Age and have proven to be skilled at it. Currently, they are focusing their efforts on Russian gas stations with a cyberattack. Despite this, Nikita emphasized that he does not hate all Russians and is thankful for those who are assisting Ukraine.

Last month, Ukraine's Digital Minister Mykhailo Fedorov encouraged individuals to tune in, stating that the country is still engaged in the battle against cyber threats.

Another tech expert working for an international cybersecurity company remotely from Ukraine is juggling his normal role with the cyber war.

He stated that his company is making an effort not to impose any deadlines on us, as some staff members are still located in Kyiv or Kharkiv, where the conflict is more severe.

"Although my family is not with me, I am striving to balance my work and cyberattack responsibilities. Unfortunately, I have more free time than usual," he stated.

Cyber-savvy citizens

In Eastern Europe, Ukraine is a prominent software development hub and its coders have an international reputation.

The cyber war is reportedly a two-way battle. Following the invasion, Ukrainian military and governmental sectors experienced a 196% increase in online attacks within the first three days, according to Check Point Research.

While falling in most other parts of the world, the number of organizations in Russia and Ukraine modestly increased, according to the data.

Over a month has passed, and Ukraine remains under attack online, primarily targeting its government and military, as per CPR's data.

The Russian embassy in Washington stated on Twitter on Feb. 19 that Moscow has never and does not conduct any "malicious" operations in cyberspace.

—Additional reporting by Monica Buchanan Pitrelli.