Ukraine's Top Mobile Operator Hit By Biggest Cyber Attack of War So Far (reuters.com) 20
According to Reuters, Ukraine's biggest mobile network was hit by "what appeared to be the largest cyber attack of the war with Russia so far," severing mobile and internet services for millions of people and knocking out the air raid alert system in parts of Kyiv. From the report: Kyivstar has 24.3 million mobile subscribers - more than half of Ukraine's population - as well as over 1.1 million home internet subscribers. Its CEO Oleksandr Komarov said the attack was "a result of" the war with Russia, although he did not say which Russian body he believed to be responsible, and that the company's IT infrastructure had been "partially destroyed." "(The attack) significantly damaged (our) infrastructure, limited access, we could not counter it at the virtual level, so we shut down Kyivstar physically to limit the enemy's access," Komarov said.
A source close to Ukraine's cyber defense also said that Russia was suspected to be the source of the attack, but no specific group had been identified. "It's definitely a state actor," said the source, who asked not to be identified because of the delicacy of the issue, adding that data cable interception showed "a lot of Russian controlled traffic directed at these networks." "There's no ransom. It's all destruction. So it's not a financially motivated attack," said the source. Ukrainian officials said that air raid alert systems in more than 75 settlements in the central Kyiv region were affected by the cyber attack.
Komarov said two databases containing customer data had been damaged and were currently locked. "The most important thing is that the personal data of users has not been compromised," Kyivstar said in its statement, promising to compensate customers for loss of access to services. Meanwhile, Ukraine's defense intelligence director (GUR) said it infected thousands of servers belonging to Russia's state tax service with malware, and destroyed databases and backups. "According to GUR's statement published Tuesday, the attack led to the 'complete destruction' of the agency's infrastructure," reports The Record. "GUR claimed they destroyed configuration files 'which for years ensured the functioning of Russia's tax system.'"
A source close to Ukraine's cyber defense also said that Russia was suspected to be the source of the attack, but no specific group had been identified. "It's definitely a state actor," said the source, who asked not to be identified because of the delicacy of the issue, adding that data cable interception showed "a lot of Russian controlled traffic directed at these networks." "There's no ransom. It's all destruction. So it's not a financially motivated attack," said the source. Ukrainian officials said that air raid alert systems in more than 75 settlements in the central Kyiv region were affected by the cyber attack.
Komarov said two databases containing customer data had been damaged and were currently locked. "The most important thing is that the personal data of users has not been compromised," Kyivstar said in its statement, promising to compensate customers for loss of access to services. Meanwhile, Ukraine's defense intelligence director (GUR) said it infected thousands of servers belonging to Russia's state tax service with malware, and destroyed databases and backups. "According to GUR's statement published Tuesday, the attack led to the 'complete destruction' of the agency's infrastructure," reports The Record. "GUR claimed they destroyed configuration files 'which for years ensured the functioning of Russia's tax system.'"
Nice hit, Ukraine (Score:4, Interesting)
I honestly don't think I'd ever have thought about going after the Russian tax man, but that is a very nice target to hit. I imagine that while it is unlikely to kill anyone, it will cause a lot of financial friction.
Re: (Score:2)
I have just checked my Russian taxpayer account online (I still have some real estate there and, therefore, have to pay a small tax every year). It shows the correct data but with a byline: "The data is current as of December 9, 2023," however, nothing has happened since then.
By the correct data, I mean: the correct balance of the account used to pay taxes, the correct history of taxes paid (the last one is from December 3, 2023, with a partial refund from December 8 because they initially withdrew a slight
Perhaps to step it up (Score:1)
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
"Most of Russian gov infrastructure run on old windows 7 PC's"
Geez where do you people get this stuff???
Re: (Score:1)
How about official news sources (Score:4, Interesting)
In early 2022, CNBC caught him using Windows 7: https://twitter.com/jordannove... [twitter.com]
It is possible that they used paid Extended Security Updates right up till the final update and have since moved on, but neither OS would have received fixes for anything rated less than High or Critical based on CVSS scores of the time.
Re: Perhaps to step it up (Score:2)
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Quite a generalisation.
My assumption for using older Windows would be along the line of less telemetry, not to do with older, therefore, in some way less intelligent.
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Kleptocracy is not the most efficient economic system, but it's what authoritarian regimes default to.
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I used to write like that when on funny mushrooms. I'm much better now that I stopped eating them.
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Backups (Score:2)
Remember kids, if it's not offsite, it's not a backup. It's just another copy.
stats off ? (Score:2)
"Kyivstar has 24.3 million mobile subscribers - more than half of Ukraine's population". As most of Ukraine population left and are now in my country I guess the stats are a bit off.