Cybersecurity Ukraine Reports That Its Officials’ Phones In The Country Become A Target For Hacking During Russian Invasion

Hackers had targeted Ukrainian officials during the Russian Invasion. (photo; doc. Pixabay)

JAKARTA - A senior Ukrainian cybersecurity official said Monday, June 6 that the phones of Ukrainian officials had been targeted by hackers during Russia's invasion of their country.

Victor Zhora, deputy head of Ukraine's State Special Communications Service, said telephones used by the country's civil servants have been subjected to continuous targeting.

"We are seeing a lot of attempts to hack into Ukrainian officials' phones, especially with the spread of malware," Zhora told reporters at an online press conference marking 100 days since Russian troops invaded and crossed their border.

But Zhora said his service had, so far, seen no evidence that Ukrainian devices had been compromised.

Hacking the devices of Ukrainian government leaders has become an issue on the international agenda following a series of revelations last year about how phones used by the president, ministers and other government officials have been targeted or compromised.

The ability to hack into such devices remotely and invisibly using sophisticated spy software, sometimes called "zero click" hacks because they don't require interaction from the victim, is highly feared.

In April, Reuters reported that top European Commission officials had stated that their phones had been targeted for hacking using this clickless spyware.

Zhora said he and his colleagues were aware of this clickless intrusion threat but declined to comment on whether they were aware of such attempts against their own devices during this time. "We continue to monitor this," he said.