According to a source from Ukraine’s military intelligence, the country’s cyber specialists from the HUR unit carried out a cyberattack on the online platforms of the Russian financial industry on October 2nd. The targeted institutions included Alfa-Bank, Otkritie Bank, and Rostelecom, which is Russia’s largest provider of digital services. The source also stated that these firms played a role in supporting the Russian Armed Forces‘ aggression against Ukraine.
The attack caused a “global failure” in the rapid payment system, resulting in the shutdown of banks’ mobile applications, online banking systems, and internal services. This is not the first time Ukrainian hackers have targeted Russian online platforms since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022. In fact, a previous attack on September 14th targeted Bank Rossiya, Tinkoff Bank, Gaz Bank, and the Quick Payment System (SBP) from Russia’s Central Bank. Between September 23rd and 26th, over 800 servers in various regions of Russia were attacked by Ukrainian military intelligence.
In late August, Ukrainian hackers also attacked the servers of Russian internet providers, causing disruptions at industrial facilities in Russia. The attack affected at least 33 servers and 283 office computers, took down 21 websites, and destroyed 15 cloud and file storage systems. This was followed by a large-scale cyberattack in late June, which left 250,000 consumers in occupied Crimea and other Russian-controlled territories without communication. The attack affected both the networks of consumers and operators that used the impacted infrastructure in Russian-occupied territories. According to Ukraine’s military intelligence, representatives of Russian providers described it as “the most powerful DDoS attack they have ever experienced.”
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