A massive cyberattack on Ukraine's telecommunications infrastructure has crippled the country's largest mobile network operator, Kyivstar, causing widespread disruption in mobile and internet services for an estimated 24 million people, Reuters reports.
The attack's severity suggests a significant escalation in the ongoing cyber warfare, exacerbating the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
A woman walks by a Kyivstar store, a Ukrainian telecommunications company, in Kyiv on December 12, 2023. Ukraine's main phone operator denounced an act of "war" on December 12, 2023, after the hacker attack that led to large-scale failures in its services. (Photo by SERGEI CHUZAVKOV / AFP)
Massive Attack and Impacted Services
Kyivstar, which has more mobile subscribers than half of Ukraine's population, was hit by a crippling attack on Tuesday, paralyzing both mobile and home internet services.
CEO Oleksandr Komarov described the attack as a dire consequence of the war with Russia, with significant damage to the company's IT infrastructure, rendering it "partially destroyed."
The impact of this attack goes beyond service disruption, with two critical customer databases compromised and inaccessible as a result.
While efforts are being made to restore functionality, the timeline for full-service restoration is still being determined, leaving millions without critical connectivity.
Suspected Russian Involvement
Strong indications of Russian involvement loom large over this cyber assault. Ukraine's SBU intelligence agency is actively investigating potential links to Russian security services, aligning with previous attributions of similar attacks to hacker groups allegedly funded by the Russian government.
As reported by Bloomberg, CEO Komarov asserted that the probability of Russian entities perpetrating this attack stands close to 100%.
This assertion aligns with the State Cyber Protection Center's past claims of sophisticated cyber interference aimed at disrupting vital infrastructure during wartime, a tactic increasingly deployed by Russia.
Response and Collaborative Efforts
In response to this unprecedented attack, Veon, Kyivstar's parent company, issued a statement confirming collaboration with law enforcement to determine the origins of the attack and its potential financial ramifications.
Furthermore, assurances regarding the integrity of users' data were provided, alleviating concerns about potential breaches.
Efforts have been made to mitigate the attack's impact on other essential services, with reports of ATM and self-service terminal disruptions in major financial institutions such as PrivatBank and Oschadbank.
Furthermore, Monobank, a critical payment system, was subjected to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack but repelled it, ensuring operational stability.
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Past Attacks
This cyber onslaught against Kyivstar echoes past incidents targeting critical Ukrainian infrastructure during the conflict with Russia.
Notably, in March 2022, suspected Russian hackers targeted Ukrtelecom, the country's largest fixed-line operator, resulting in a 15-hour blackout in certain regions.
Kyivstar has been a previous target of cyber assaults amidst the ongoing conflict, experiencing a surge in DDoS and phishing attacks, as confirmed by CEO Komarov in a prior interview.
The magnitude and implications of this cyberattack against Kyivstar underscore the escalating cyber warfare amidst the geopolitical tensions between Ukraine and Russia.
The immediate repercussions on essential services and potential long-term implications for Ukraine's digital infrastructure highlight the gravity of such malicious cyber activities in modern warfare.
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