Jan 4, 2024 at 9:08 AM Update: 27 minutes ago
A devastating hack attack on Ukrainian provider Kyivstar left 24 million people unable to make calls or use the internet. According to Ukraine, Russian hackers who had access to the telecom provider’s systems since May were behind the attack.
“This attack was a big warning,” said Ukrainian cyber espionage chief Illia Vitiuk Reuters. “Not only towards Ukraine, but to the entire Western world. The message is that no one is untouchable.”
According to Vitiuk, Kyivstar is a healthy company that invests heavily in cybersecurity. Yet that turned out not to be enough. The December hacking attack is seen as one of the largest attacks since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The attack destroyed almost everything on Kyivstar’s systems, including thousands of virtual servers and PCs. Thanks to backups, business operations could be restarted within a few days.
Attack to destroy systems and companies
Dave Maasland, director of cybersecurity company ESET Netherlands, previously told NU.nl that these types of attacks can be compared to a digital hand grenade. “They were created for the sole purpose of destroying a system,” he said. These types of attacks can be so devastating that a company has to start from scratch if it doesn’t have proper backups.
Vitiuk can say with certainty that the hackers have been present in Kyivstar’s systems since May 2023. “I don’t know how long they had full access,” he says. “Probably since November.”
The Ukrainian secret service SBU reports that the hackers were probably able to steal personal data. They also essentially had access to phone locations and could potentially intercept text messages. But a spokesperson for Kyivstar, which works closely with the SBU, said there was no evidence this actually happened.
2024-01-04 08:08:06
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