Cyberattack Paralyzes Russian State Media On Putin's Birthday

Russian state media, VGTRK, which manages major national television channels (photo: x @vgtrk)

JAKARTA Russia's state media, VGTRK, which manages major national television channels, was targeted for massive cyberattacks on Monday, October 7. This attack, which sources from the Ukrainian government said was carried out by hackers from the country, coincided with the 72nd anniversary of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The cyberattack left a number of online services and the VGTRK website, including the 24-hour Rossiya-24 news channel, inaccessible. When trying to access Rossiya-24's live broadcast, users receive an error message that reads "503 Unavailable Services" which shows no servers are available to handle requests.

The Kremlin, through its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, stated that this cyberattack was one of the largest ever faced by Russian state media.

"Our country's media, one of the largest, has faced unprecedented cyber attacks on its digital infrastructure," Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

VGTRK, which has a wide network including radio stations and regional television channels across Russia, confirmed that their service experienced cyberattacks, but has not provided further details regarding the damage or timing needed for repairs. The specialists are working to find out all the details and find out where these cyberattack traces came from," Peskov added.

Ukraine Claims Responsibility

A source from the Ukrainian government, who declined to be named, said this attack was a deliberate action by Ukrainian hacker groups as a symbolic form of "celebrating" President Putin's birthday.

"Ukrainian hackers gave Putin a 'happy birthday' by launching a massive attack on VGTRK, known as the main media that spreads Russian government propaganda about war in Ukraine," the source said.

However, this claim cannot be independently verified. The attack reportedly affected not only online streaming services but also the company's internal network, including internet access and telephone services.

A source from Russian media, Gazeta.ru, said that data from VGTRK servers, including backups, had been deleted, exacerbating repair difficulties. They (hackers) removed everything from the server, including backups. They have been working in lockdown since 6 a.m., "said the source.

Reactions from the Russian side

Speaking in Moscow, a spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, did not directly accuse Ukraine of being the perpetrator, but stated that Russian media had long been the target of attacks by the West.

Russia's media has long been a target of what the collective West calls a hybrid war'. This attack is just part of an attempt to undermine Russia's internal stability," Zakharova said.

He added that Russia would take the issue to various international forums, including UNESCO, the United Nations agency that promotes free speech. Zakharova also stressed that the Russian government will not remain silent against attacks aimed at their country's media and will seek steps to protect the country's digital infrastructure.

VGTRK is one of the largest media conglomerates in Russia to have several main TV channels such as Rossiya-1 and Rossiya-24, as well as radio stations and regional networks covering much of Russia's territory. News broadcast by these channels is a major source of information for Russian citizens on various issues, including the ongoing war in Ukraine.

This cyberattack comes amid rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, where the two countries have accused each other of carrying out cyberattacks against their respective critical infrastructure.

Hackers from Ukraine and other countries who sympathize with their struggles, often carry out attacks on Russian state institutions, as a form of resistance to Russia's invasion of Ukraine that has been going on since February 2022.

Cybersecurity analysts warn that this attack could be part of an escalation of war in cyberspace between the two countries, which has been a covert battleground behind the physical war on the ground.

While VGTRK is still working to restore their services, the impact of this attack is expected to be felt in quite a long time, especially if claims that all data has been removed from the server are true.