The attack on Ukrtelecom PJSC was described by some experts as one of the most harmful cyber attacks since the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24. About 3:30 p.m. ET on Monday, Ukrainian officials said they had repulsed the attack and that the company could restore services, according to a statement from Ukraine’s State Communications and Intelligence Service, which is responsible for cyber security in the country. A statement from Ukraine’s cyber-attack service did not say who was responsible for the attack. Security experts say Russian-linked hackers have launched a series of cyber-attacks against financial services companies, Internet service providers and government agencies since February, in the run-up to the February 24 invasion. Russia has denied involvement in the cyber-attacks. Ukrtelecom says it is the largest provider of fixed telephony services in Ukraine. It is the seventh largest Internet service provider in the country, said Doug Madory, director of Internet analytics with network monitoring company Kentik Inc. Ukrainians are investigating the aftermath as Russian missiles continue to hit Kyiv, Kharkiv and other cities across the country. Another round of ceasefire talks is scheduled to begin in Turkey on Tuesday. Photo: Anastasia Vlasova / Getty Images Ukrtelecom’s ability to connect to the Internet to provide customer service began to decline around 5 a.m. ET and gradually fell throughout the day on Monday, according to data from the Georgia Institute of Technology Internet Outbreak Detection and Analysis project, which monitors power outages on the Internet. Within five hours, the company was almost completely offline, Mr Madory said. After the attack began, the company began restricting services to the majority of its business and consumer customers to maintain capability for its military customers, SSSCIP reported. From 4:30 p.m. ET, about 8% of Ukrtelecom networks in which Georgia Tech internet interruption measures were online. Ukrtelecom did not return messages requesting comments, but the company acknowledged the downtime in a post Monday on its Facebook page and said it was working to restore fixed service as soon as possible. The shutdown was confirmed by several Internet traffic monitoring teams. Netblocks, an Internet watchdog that has monitored previous holidays in Ukraine, said on Twitter that the network’s data showed “a continuous and intensified shutdown of the service nationwide, which is the most serious since the invasion by Russia.”
Subscribe to updates
WSJ Pro Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity news, analysis and information from the WSJ Global Team of Journalists and Editors. Cybersecurity experts and US officials have been surprised by the absence of major cyber-disruptive or catastrophic attacks during the conflict in Ukraine, as Russia is widely regarded as having some of the most powerful state-funded hacker groups in the world. and Moscow had previously been accused of launching cyber-attacks that disrupted Ukraine’s government, electricity and financial services. Malicious cyber activity has been severely curtailed by interruptions to Web services and the limited development of so-called malicious wiper software, which can corrupt computer files. However, US officials are increasingly concerned that Moscow could attack either Ukraine or the West in response to its battles on the battlefield and punish US and European sanctions. Last week, President Biden said there was growing evidence that Russia was exploring options to target the United States with cyber-attacks. Write to Robert McMillan at [email protected] and Dustin Volz at [email protected] Copyright © 2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8 Appeared in the print edition of March 29, 2022 as “Attack on the Ukrainian Army Internet Provider”.
