Ukrainian cyber warfare disrupts Russian networks in massive DDoS attack
Russian hacker groups are terrorising companies around the world. On Wednesday, Russians experienced firsthand what these attacks are like. They were unable to log in to their favourite social networking service, VKontakte, and the websites of many banks, ministries, and offices were not working.
According to information provided by the portal Ukrayinska Pravda, the Ukrainian military intelligence HUR is responsible for carrying out the large-scale coordinated DDoS attack—the cyberattack aimed to disrupt the operations of state institutions and companies operating in Russia.
As a result of this operation, the work of many state institutions and private companies in the Russian Federation was severely disrupted. The source cited by Ukrayinska Pravda reports that services of some banks, such as Sberbank and AlfaBank, are currently unavailable. In addition, there are also severe problems with the functioning of the famous Russian social network VKontakte.
Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor claims that the disruptions result from a failure in the leading communication network. However, sources from Ukrayinska Pravda suggest that the real cause is a large-scale DDoS attack carried out by Ukrainian cyber warfare specialists.
Bank, office, and company websites were not working
From 7:00 AM in the UK, many Russian institutions, including the ministries of defence, finance, internal affairs, justice, industry and trade, energy, information technology and communications, and emergencies, have had no internet services.
The Russian Federal Tax Service's website and online services were blocked. The Federal Customs Service said, "due to a massive DDoS attack on telecommunications operators, information exchange with participants in foreign economic activity is complicated."
Paralysed systems
The United Aircraft Corporation, a Russian civilian and military aircraft manufacturer, reported a lack of network access, paralysing its work for some time. The Gosoblako cloud storage servers also failed to operate.
Additionally, a source from Ukrayinska Pravda reports that the civil registry offices’ online service was not working for several days in some regions of Russia. As a result, Russians are complaining about cancelled weddings, one of the many issues resulting from this disruption.
