Ukrainian intelligence agency GUR says it carried out a cyber attack on the Russian Defense Ministry. The attack reportedly brought down a server for "special communications" between Russian military units and Moscow. Several Russian websites were also down Tuesday. So says the head of Ukraine's intelligence service GUR on Telegram, Newsweek reported.
"On Jan. 30, 2024, as a result of a cyber attack, the server of the Ministry of Defense of the aggressor state of Russia, which was used for special communications, went down. The operation in the enemy's cyberspace was carried out by the Defense Intelligence Agency of Ukraine. As a result of the cyber attack, the exchange of information between the units of the Russian Defense Ministry that used the Moscow-based server was terminated," GUR wrote on Telegram.
The software that was hacked would have been installed by Russia on many military "strategic objects. That means Ukrainian intelligence could use the same method to thwart communications between Moscow and army units on the front lines. The Ukrainian army could use this tactic to force a breakthrough in the war with Russia.
In addition to the Russian Defense Ministry's server, many websites were down Tuesday. According to Russian media, these would be websites of government agencies and the search engine Yandex. Internet banking was also down. It is unclear whether the outages of the sites and Internet banking are actually related to the Ukrainian cyber attack.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, there have been thousands of cyber attacks back and forth. Recently, Russian hackers managed to take down Ukrainian telecom company Kyivstar. The attackers managed to penetrate to the core of the company's network and destroy thousands of virtual servers and PCs. As a result, 24 million Ukrainians were unable to call, text or use mobile Internet for days. According to security experts, it was the largest cyber attack with the most impact since the outbreak of war.
In addition to cyberattacks, Russian hackers have also carried out spearphishing campaigns to steal login credentials and attempt to take down vital infrastructure with wiper software. That is malware aimed at doing as much damage as possible to Ukraine's infrastructure by destroying data.
Outgoing Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren announced this week a sum of 10 million euros for improving Ukraine's cybersecurity. "It is very important to support Ukraine for not only the short term, but also the long term. Especially now it is important to show that we are helping Ukraine. They are fighting for their country and for the values we share: self-determination, freedom, equality, human rights," the minister said of the donation.
