Ukraine Takes Credit for Cyberattack on Russian Defense Ministry

Ukraine has claimed credit for a cyberattack that purportedly took down a "special communications" server used by the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD).

The Ukrainian Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) said in a post to Telegram on Tuesday night that it was able to cut communications between Russian military units and Moscow as a result of the "ongoing" attack, according to a translation from Ukrainska Pravda.

"On 30 January 2024, as a result of a cyberattack, the server of the Ministry of Defense of the aggressor state of Russia, which was used for special communications, went down," the GUR post reads.

"The operation in the enemy's cyberspace was carried out by the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine," it continues. "As a result of the cyberattack, the exchange of information between the Russian Ministry of Defense units that used the Moscow-based server was terminated."

Newsweek reached out for comment to the Russian MoD via email on Tuesday night.

Russian media outlet RBC reported that mobile networks in central Russia and websites using .ru and .rf domains were experiencing widespread outages on Tuesday. It was not clear that the outages were connected to the Ukrainian attack.

The purported takedown of the Russian MoD is far from the first time that Ukraine has targeted Russia in a cyberattack.

As troops continue to fight on the battlefield, a cyber war between the nations has been unfolding in the nearly two years since Russia's invasion began.

On Saturday, GUR announced that a cyberattack had "destroyed all IT infrastructure" belonging to Moscow company IPL Consulting, which provides crucial communications links for Russia's defense industry.

Several Ukrainian state-run organizations, including energy company Naftogaz, said that they experienced IT failures following a series of cyberattacks believed to have been carried out last week with the help of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), according to Reuters.

Independent groups of hackers, many of which are believed to have links to the Ukrainian or Russian governments, have also launched cyberattacks during the war.

In November, a Ukrainian group calling itself Cyber Resistance reportedly hacked the Russian MoD's Department of Information and Mass Communications.

Cyber Resistance claimed that it gained access to a Russian media monitoring and analytics system called Katyusha, which is purportedly a tool used by Kremlin propagandists.

Earlier this month, GUR said that the hacking activities of a group called "Blackjack" had lead to Ukraine acquiring stolen construction plans for more than 500 Russian military sites.

Artur Lyukmanov, special representative to Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused the United States of aiding Ukrainian cyberattacks in comments to Newsweek in September, warning that the attacks could lead to an "all-out war" between the U.S. and Russia.

Uncommon Knowledge

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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