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THE BIZNOB – Global Business & Financial News – A Business Journal – Focus On Business Leaders, Technology – Enterpeneurship – Finance – Economy – Politics & LifestyleTHE BIZNOB – Global Business & Financial News – A Business Journal – Focus On Business Leaders, Technology – Enterpeneurship – Finance – Economy – Politics & Lifestyle

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Exclusive: Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months

Exclusive: Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months
Exclusive: Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months Exclusive: Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months
Exclusive: Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months
Exclusive: Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months Exclusive: Russian hackers were inside Ukraine telecoms giant for months

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Russian hackers were inside Ukraine’s telecom giant for months. According to Ukraine’s senior cyber spy, Reuters, Russian hackers have had access to Kyivstar, a major telecom company in the country, since at least May last year. This intrusion should be considered a “big warning” to the West.

One of the most significant hacks since Russia’s full-scale invasion over two years ago, the attack prevented some 24 million subscribers of Ukraine’s largest telecom company from using its services for several days starting December 12.

The head of the cybersecurity department at the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Illia Vitiuk, provided unique information about the breach in an interview. According to Vitiuk, the attack caused “disastrous” devastation and was intended to acquire intelligence and deliver a psychological blow.

“This attack is a big message, a big warning, not only to Ukraine but for the whole Western world to understand that no one is actually untouchable,” he stated. He mentioned that Kyivstar was a well-funded private business with significant cybersecurity investments.

He said that thousands of virtual servers and PCs were destroyed in the attack, calling it “almost everything.” It was likely the first instance of a damaging cyberattack that “completely destroyed the core of a telecoms operator.”

In a Zoom interview on December 27, he stated that the SBU discovered throughout its investigation that the hackers most likely tried to access Kyivstar in March or earlier.

“For now, we can say securely that they have been in the system at least since May 2023,” he stated. “I cannot say right now, since what time they had … full access: probably at least since November.”

With the degree of access the hackers could obtain, the SBU determined that they might have stolen personal data, tracked down phones, intercepted SMS conversations, and maybe even taken over Telegram accounts.

According to a Kyivstar representative, “no facts of leakage of personal and subscriber data have been revealed.” The firm collaborates closely with the SBU to investigate the incident and will take all necessary precautions to prevent such dangers.

Vitiuk said that the SBU assisted Kyivstar in fending off fresh cyberattacks and quickly restoring its systems.

“After the major break, there were a number of new attempts aimed at dealing more damage to the operator,” he said.

Of the three major telecom carriers in Ukraine, Kyivstar is the largest. According to Vitiuk, 1.1 million Ukrainians reside in small towns and villages without access to other providers.

Due to the incident, many hurried to get additional SIM cards, resulting in lengthy lineups. According to him, certain ATMs that utilized Kyivstar SIM cards to access the internet stopped working, and some areas had malfunctions with the air-raid siren, which is activated during missile and drone assaults.

He said that the strike did not affect them because the Ukrainian military used “different algorithms and protocols” and was not dependent on telecom companies.

“Speaking about drone detection, speaking about missile detection, luckily, no, this situation didn’t affect us strongly,” he stated.

Russian Sandworm

The destruction of Kyivstar’s infrastructure makes investigating the attack more difficult.

Vitiuk declared that he was “pretty sure” Sandworm, a cyber warfare unit of Russian military intelligence connected to cyberattacks in Ukraine and other countries, was responsible for the operation.

According to Vitiuk, who declined to name the business, Sandworm infiltrated a Ukrainian telecom provider a year ago. Still, Kyiv could detect it since the SBU had been inside Russian networks. There have been no prior reports of the earlier breach.

An inquiry for comments on Vitiuk’s remarks was sent in writing, but the Russian Ministry of Defense did not reply.

According to Vitiuk, the behavior pattern suggests that Russian hackers may still attack telecom companies. According to him, the SBU stopped more than 4,500 significant cyberattacks on vital infrastructure and Ukrainian government targets last year.

The SBU suspected a group known as Solntsepyok of having ties to Sandworm, and they claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to Vitiuk, SBU investigators are still trying to figure out how Kyivstar was compromised and what kind of Trojan horse software was used to get in. They also mentioned that it may have been phishing, an insider helping out, or something else.

Given that the hackers employed malware to obtain password hashes, he added that if it was an inside operation, the insider who assisted them did not have a high degree of clearance within the organization.

He said that malware samples had been found and were being examined. Oleksandr Komarov, the CEO of Kyivstar, announced on December 20 that all of the business’s services had been fully restored across the nation. Vitiuk gave the SBU credit for its emergency response work in restoring the systems securely.

According to Vitiuk, there may have been a straightforward assault on Kyivstar due to its infrastructure being developed similarly to that of Beeline, the Russian mobile provider.

He went on to say that professional assistance would have made navigating Kyivstar’s massive infrastructure easier.

Around five in the morning local time, the devastation at Kyivstar started when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was in Washington, DC, pressuring the West to keep sending relief.

According to Vitiuk, the attack had less impact. It forfeited a potent intelligence-gathering instrument since it was not coupled with a significant missile and drone strike during a period when people were experiencing communication problems.

He claimed it was unknown why the hackers chose December 12 and added, “Maybe some colonel wanted to become a general.”


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