Ukrainian Internet Company Ukrtelecom Gets Powerful Cyber Attack, Russia Is Accused

Ukrtelecom experiences internet service interruptions (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Ukrainian-owned telecommunications company Ukrtelecom experienced internet service disruptions on Monday, March 28, after a "strong" cyber attack. This was announced by Ukrainian government officials and representatives of the company.

The incident is the latest hacking attack on Ukrainian internet services since Russian military forces invaded in late February.

"Today, the enemy launched a powerful cyberattack against Ukrtelecom's IT infrastructure," said Yurii Shchyhol, head of the State Service for Information Protection and Special Communications of Ukraine, as quoted by Reuters. "The attack was contained. Now Ukrtelecom has the ability to start restoring its services to clients."

"At present, the attack has been successfully stopped, the provision of services has gradually resumed," said a spokesman for Ukrtelecom, Mikhail Shuranov.

⚠️ Confirmed: A major internet disruption has been registered across #Ukraine on national provider #Ukrtelecom; real-time network data show connectivity collapsing to 13% of pre-war levels; the provider reports issues assigning new sessions

📰 Background: https://t.co/S0qJQ7CbNv pic.twitter.com/BY2OOBK0m6

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) March 28, 2022

NetBlocks, which monitors internet service disruptions, posted on Twitter earlier on Monday that it saw "connectivity collapsing" with "ongoing and intensifying nationwide disruptions."

Forbes also previously reported that a similar incident occurred earlier this month against Triolan, a smaller Ukrainian telecommunications company. The company suffered a hack that reset some internal systems, resulting in some local customers losing access.

Ukrtelecom had said in a statement earlier in the day that there were "temporary difficulties with the installation of a new Internet session for Ukrtelecom subscribers."

Russia has called its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation" to disarm and "denazify" its neighbors. Kyiv and the West regard this as a pretext for a groundless invasion to try to overthrow Ukraine's elected government.