Hackers from the “VO Team” group and cyber experts from Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) “congratulated” Russian President Vladimir Putin on his 72nd birthday on Monday, October 7, by breaking into the state-run automated “Pravosudie” system.
The Pravosudie system manages electronic document flows for all Russian Federation courts.
The state media business VGTRK, which oversees Russia’s main national TV stations, admitted it was targeted by a hack on Monday morning but stated that “no significant damage was caused”.
The Russian company’s internal web and broadcast services—described by the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov as a “critical infrastructure facility”—failed for many hours in the early morning, including the streaming of TV and radio channels Russia-1 and Russia-24.
Late this morning, Vgtrk reported that “everything is functioning normally” and that “no significant damage has been caused to operations.”
“As a result of the cyberattack, the personal data of users and internal documentation from the system were obtained. Currently, Russians report being unable to file lawsuits or view court hearing schedules, as the court websites are down,” the source said.
Ukraine did not overtly admit credit for the strike, and the Kremlin did not instantly pinpoint Kyiv as the culprit.
But a Ukrainian government source told Reuters news agency and POLITICO: “Ukrainian hackers ‘congratulated’ Putin on his birthday by carrying out a large-scale attack on the all-Russian state television and radio broadcasting company.”
Main Rossiya-1, Rossiya-24, and Kultura were among the affected channels; radio stations Vesti FM and Mayak were also affected.
Military intelligence sources claim that weaknesses in the widely publicised Russian computer security solutions offered by “Kaspersky Lab,” “Positive Technologies,” and “IVK” as well as the low qualifications of Russian cybersecurity experts made the attack possible.
We earlier reported that Google has blocked Russian users’ ability to register new accounts on the site, according to Russian news agency Interfax, citing statements made during a press briefing by representatives of Russia’s Digital Development Ministry.
