Massive cyberattack hits Lukoil, banks, payment systems in Russia — media

This is reported by Russian media.

According to Meduza, major mobile operators and banks in Russia, including T-Bank, Alfa-Bank, and VTB, are experiencing disruptions. Issues have also been reported with the fast payment system and Yandex Pay.

Sberbank has also confirmed operational problems, attributing them to technical reasons, according to employees quoted by the Russian propaganda agency TASS. Meanwhile, users are reporting widespread disruptions.

The Russian Telegram channel Baza reported that in the morning, Lukoil employees were unable to log in to their work computers. Instead, their screens displayed a strange error message that appeared suspiciously like a hacking attempt.

"All employees have been ordered not to log in to work accounts using their logins and passwords to prevent a data leak," the report states.

As of 11:30 a.m. Kyiv time, TASS, citing the press service of the national payment card system, claimed that issues with the fast payment system had supposedly been resolved. Roskomnadzor later stated that the disruptions were caused by a failure in the national payment card system’s infrastructure.

• On January 1, 2025, cyber specialists from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense carried out an attack on Russia’s oil sector, specifically targeting Lukoil.