Ukrainian State Agencies Report Cyber Attacks, According to Reuters

KYIV – Several significant state organizations in Ukraine reported experiencing cyber attacks on their systems on Thursday. A government source attributed these incidents to Russian intelligence operations.

Naftogaz, the state-run energy company, announced that one of its data centers had been targeted in a “large-scale cyberattack.” The company stated that both its websites and call center were currently inoperative.

The national postal service, Ukrposhta, noted a “significant technical failure” within its IT systems, with the company’s head, Ihor Smeliansky, indicating that there was an attack on the information infrastructure of its partners the previous night. Ukrposhta’s specialists are working diligently to resolve the issues and restore normal operations.

Ukrtransbezpeka, a state agency responsible for transport safety and managing border crossing systems for Ukrainian drivers, also reported technical difficulties affecting its data center.

The state body in charge of counteracting cyber threats, CERT-UA, informed news agencies that their specialists were actively addressing the issues. Additionally, a convention center and the ticket sales system for Ukrainian state railways reported suspected cyber attacks.

A source close to the Ukrainian government indicated that there were other affected entities, particularly in the finance and banking sectors, although the government has chosen to only disclose incidents where services were disrupted. The source mentioned that the exact perpetrators have not yet been identified, but compared to a significant outage experienced last month at Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, the current attacks are not as severe.

Ukraine is reportedly working quickly to restore affected systems, a process that typically takes a few days. The source suggested that the attackers are likely affiliated with Russia’s FSB intelligence service.

Ukrainian infrastructure has frequently been targeted by cyber attacks, which authorities have attributed to Russia since the onset of the invasion in February 2022. The recent attack on Kyivstar, for instance, occurred after hackers exploited a compromised account belonging to an employee.