A powerful cyberattack has affected Kyivstar, the largest telecommunications company in Ukraine, causing phone and internet services to be disrupted for people nationwide.
Kyivstar confirmed the incident on Tuesday in a Facebook post, stating that the Kyivstar cyberattack resulted in a “technical failure” that prevented clients from accessing the internet or their mobile devices.
According to the corporate website, Kyivstar provides services to over 24 million cell phone subscribers and over 1.1 million home internet users.
Kyivstar Cyberattack Decoded
Authorities in the Ukrainian city of Sumy, located in the north, have cautioned that the Kyivstar cyberattack has also impacted their air raid alarm system.
The regional military administration of Sumy sent a statement on Telegram stating that “the notification system will not work temporarily.”
Oleksandr Komarov, CEO of Kyivstar said, “Unfortunately, the operator was the target of a very strong cyberattack this morning, which has prevented access to the internet and communications services.” He claimed in a video message that the Kyivstar cyberattack was conducted by Russian-backed cyber adversaries.
According to Komarov, cyberspace is just one of the many elements of the conflict with the Russian Federation.
Oleksandr continued, “It is still not completely clear” when the telecom giant will resume regular operations in his video statement. The parent company of Kyivstar, VEON, which is based in the Netherlands, stated in a release that its technical teams are “working on eliminating the consequences of the hacker attack and restoring communication as soon as possible.”
Kyivstar Network to Collaborate with Ukrainian Law Enforcement
To find out the specifics and impacts of the cyberattack on Kyivstar network, they are closely collaborating with Ukrainian law enforcement. In order to put in place extra security measures to stop any repetition, VEON and Kyivstar are carrying out a comprehensive internal investigation of the incident. As per Kyivstar’s knowledge at the time of this release, no subscriber’s personal information has been compromised.
The release also stated, “The exact magnitude of the financial impact is not yet quantifiable as it will depend on how long services are impacted.”
While apologizing for the “temporary inconvenience” and promising to reimburse impacted users, Kyivstar insisted that subscriber privacy had not been violated. “Indeed, our adversaries are cunning. However, we are prepared to meet any challenges head-on, conquer them, and carry on working for Ukrainians,” the business continued.
Cybercriminals also targeted Monobank, one of the biggest banks in Ukraine, at the same time as Kyivstar cyberattack. Oleh Gorokhovsky, a co-founder of the bank, stated in a post on Telegram that the company had been the victim of a “massive DDoS” attack—a term used to describe cyberattacks in which large amounts of unsolicited traffic are sent in an attempt to bring down websites and services—but that “everything is under control.”
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