Russian GRU unit Solntsepek responsible for Kyivstar hack, says Ukrainian intelligence
The Solntsepek hacking group, which has claimed responsibility for hacking Kyivstar’s mobile network, is part of the Russian military intelligence agency the GRU, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) reported on Telegram on Dec. 13.
“We attacked Kyivstar because the company provides communications for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as the government and law enforcement agencies of Ukraine,” Solntsepek claimed on one of its social media channels.
In its message, the group claimed it had destroyed 10,000 computers, more than 4 thousand servers, and all cloud storage and backup systems belonging to Ukraine’s largest mobile operator.
Kyivstar, SBU cyber experts, other government agencies, and IT companies are continuing to restore the network after the attack which left 24 million subscribers without mobile connection.
Read also: Overwhelming cyber-attack took out Ukraine’s largest mobile operator – Kyivstar Pres. explains how
Preliminary estimates suggest that landline internet may be restored today, the SBU said.
The SBU has opened a criminal investigation into the cyber-attack on Kyivstar.
Ukraine’s largest mobile operator Kyivstar experienced a major outage on the morning of Dec. 12, bringing the network down across the entire country. More than 12 hours later, company engineers are still unable to bring it back online.
Initially attributing the disruption to a technical glitch, Kyivstar later confirmed the outage was the result of a hacker attack.
Read also: Major banking platform Monobank experiences massive DDoS attacks following Kyivstar network outage
The Ministry of Digital Transformation subsequently stated that the malfunction had disrupted national roaming services but had not affected the national air raid alert system or the Kyiv metro.
“Kyivstar will definitely provide compensation to subscribers who were unable to use the operator’s services or had no connection,” the company stated. Kyivstar also apologized to subscribers for the temporary inconvenience and thanked them for their understanding.
Restoration efforts for Kyivstar subscribers are underway…
