Ukraine’s Top Telecom Provider, Kyivstar, Faces Severe Disruption in Major Cyber Attack

Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest telecommunications operator, has fallen prey to a significant cyber attack, disrupting mobile and internet services for customers across the country. NetBlocks reported that the impact was particularly severe in the capital, affecting all regions and causing ripple effects on the air raid alert network and banking sector. Kyivstar, owned by the multinational telecommunication services company VEON, serves around 25 million mobile subscribers and over 1 million home internet customers.

Attributing the attack to the ongoing conflict with Russia, Kyivstar stated that it had informed law enforcement and special state services. The company is actively working to restore services, although the internet watchdog noted that the telecom operator is currently mostly offline. Kyivstar, however, has not disclosed specific details about the nature of the attack or the reasons behind the service shutdown. Fortunately, there is no evidence suggesting the compromise of personal data belonging to subscribers.

In a Facebook update, Kyivstar assured subscribers and corporate clients that compensation would be provided to those affected by the hacking attack once the network is stabilized. The company also issued a warning to users, cautioning them against potential scams seeking to exploit the situation for personal information. Kyivstar emphasized that official announcements regarding compensation and network restoration would only come from the company’s official channels.

Source: NetBlocks.

While the pro-Russia hacktivist group KillNet claimed responsibility for the attack on Telegram, it provided no additional evidence to support its claims. Notably, KillNet has recently undergone upheaval, with its leader, known as KillMilk, being unmasked as Nikolai Serafimov, a 30-year-old Russian citizen. KillMilk has retired, passing leadership to a figure named “Deanon Club,” who announced plans for large-scale recruitment and targeting government financial facilities, encryption firms, and the gambling sector.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence (GUR) revealed its infiltration of Russia’s Federal Taxation Service (FNS) servers, wiping out all data. The operation extended to the servers of the Russian IT company, Office.ed-it.ru, which served as a database for the FNS. GUR’s actions follow a previous cyber assault on Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency (Rosaviatsia), with Russian politician Anton Gorelkin dismissing the attack on FNS as fictitious, claiming it to be a diversion by the Ukrainian government in response to issues with Kyivstar.