Ukrainian Cyberattack Takes Down Russian Defense Ministry Server, HUR Says

An “ongoing” Ukrainian cyberattack has knocked out a server used by Russia’s defense ministry, disrupting communications for some of Moscow’s military units, Kyiv has said.

Ukraine’s defense intelligence (HUR) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that “appropriate software” had been installed at “various strategic facilities of the Russian public sector, in particular – military.”

In a post on Telegram, HUR added: “As a result of the cyberattack, the exchange of information between the units of the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation, which used the indicated server located in Moscow, was stopped.

Russia has yet to comment on the attack, but authorities did announce Tuesday that a “technical problem” had shut down several internet sites in the country, though the defence ministry was not mentioned, AFP reports.

Russia's digital development ministry said the problem was linked to “Domain Name System Security Extensions” and was resolved by Tuesday evening, though “disruptions” could persist “for a certain time.”

The cyberattack is just the latest that have hit both Ukrainian and Russian targets.

Earlier this week, a cyberattack has targeted the Ukrainian government department that oversees issues relating to POWs.

Last week Naftogaz, Ukraine’s largest gas and oil company, said on social media that its data center was undergoing a cyberattack, rendering its website and call service unavailable.

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The day before, HUR reported a cyberattack on Russia’s Far Eastern Scientific Research Center of Space Hydrometeorology, a state enterprise responsible for receiving and processing military satellite data.

On Jan. 22, Ukraine’s Monobank underwent a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, the most powerful the bank has undergone to date “with a total load of 580 million service requests,” according to its CEO.

On Jan. 16, a group of IT volunteers in Ukraine said it launched a DDoS attack on an internet provider in Moscow.

And in December, Russian hackers launched a large-scale cyberattack on Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest telecommunications company, dealing extensive damage to the system and rendering its services unavailable for days.