The Russian hacker group Solntsepek claimed responsibility for the attack on Kyivstar. The SSU claims that it is a subdivision of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia.
Who is involved in the cyber attack on Kyivstar
A group of Russian hackers has claimed involvement in a cyberattack that led to the destruction of the network infrastructure of the Ukrainian telecommunications operator Kyivstar.
A Russian pseudo-hacker group has already claimed responsibility for the attack. This is a hacker unit of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, which in this way publicly legalises the results of its criminal activities, the SSU writes.
In their Telegram, Russian hackers said they had allegedly destroyed 10,000 computers, more than 4,000 servers, all cloud data storage and backup systems. They explained the attack by claiming that the operator supports the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Ukrainian government agencies and law enforcement.
According to the SBU, Kyivstar specialists and other government agencies continue to help the mobile operator restore its network after yesterday's hacker attack.
According to preliminary data, on 13 December, the government plans to restore fixed-line internet for households and launch mobile and internet services.
It is noted that it will take time to restore all services in compliance with the necessary security protocols.
What is known about the Russian group of hackers Solntsepek
This group has actually been operating since this year and is not the first to attack Ukraine. It has claimed responsibility for attacks on the local network of the Ministry of Communities and Territories Development, the website of Channel 24, providers Gigabit-Net and Znet, and the websites of Gordon and Suspilne.
Its attacks have not caused much damage in the past. However, the group may be linked to the GRU's elite hacking unit, Sandworm. It was this unit that spread the NotPetya virus, which destroyed data on commercial and government computers around the world, causing $10 billion in damage in just one sabotage.
In 2020, the US Department of Justice indicted six Russian hackers from the Sandworm group for cyber attacks in Ukraine, the US, France, and South Korea. All of them are officers of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia. Their names are Yuriy Andrienko, Sergey Dyetistov, Pavel Frolov, Anatoly Kovalev, Artem Ochichenko and Pyotr Pliskin.
