The attack has reportedly paralyzed the operations of various Russian government institutions and private companies.
The services of major banks, including Sberbank and AlfaBank, are currently unavailable. VKontakte, a popular social network in Russia, is also experiencing severe disruptions.
The Russian media regulator, Roskomnadzor, attributes the disruptions to a “major network communication failure.” However, sources from Ukrainska Pravda indicate that the ongoing large-scale DDoS attack by Ukrainian cyberwarfare specialists is the true cause.
Attack aftermath
As of 11:00 AM (10:00 AM in Poland), numerous Russian ministries, including Defense, Finance, Internal Affairs, Justice, Industry and Energy, Information Technology and Communications, and Emergency Situations, have lost internet access.
Furthermore, the Russian Federal Tax Service’s website and online services have been blocked.
The Federal Customs Service issued a statement acknowledging that “due to a massive DDoS attack on telecommunications operators, information exchange with foreign trade participants is complicated.”
The United Aircraft Corporation, a producer of civilian and military aircraft in Russia, reported a network outage, temporarily paralyzing its operations.
The attack also caused the malfunction of the data storage servers at Gosoblako, a Russian cloud storage company.
Additionally, several regions have seen the online civil registry office shut down for days, leading to the cancellation of weddings, as reported by Ukrainska Pravda’s source.
Retaliation?
The Ukrainian strike comes amid heavy Russian involvement in cyber warfare all around Europe.
Poland is among the countries most often targeted by alleged Russian hackers, according to the Rzeczpospolita daily.
On Friday, the newspaper reported that the number of attacks has increased by 60% since January and within the last six months by 130%.
It also quoted an analysis by the American-Israeli multinational company Check Point Software Technologies, which states that Polish companies are the victims of cyberattacks nearly 1,430 times a week.
