Ukrainian cyber specialists launch attack on Russia's central bank

According to Ukrinform and Liga.net, this attack began around 11:00 local time, causing the Central Bank’s resources to become either inaccessible or to experience significant disruptions.

The Central Bank of Russia confirmed the cyberattack and noted that its intensity was increasing. Additionally, the attack affected Russian users' ability to access the online services of Zenith Bank and Gazprombank. The situation is further complicated by unstable internet connectivity, as Russia’s largest telecommunications providers are also facing ongoing cyberattacks.

It is noted that the MTS, Russia's largest mobile network operator, has been targeted, leading to a three-day outage of its services.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is the main first-tier bank and the central monetary institution in Russia. It oversees and implements national credit policy in collaboration with the government and has the exclusive authority to issue banknotes and regulate financial institutions.

Ukraine’s recent cyberattacks on Russian services and providers

On April 26, employees of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine conducted a large-scale cyberattack on the services of the ruling United Russia party.

On May 3, it was reported that cyber specialists from the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine were conducting a large-scale cyber attack on Internet service providers and mobile operators in Tatarstan, Russia.

In May, cyber specialists from the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine attacked Internet providers in the Belgorod region and local government websites, including the regional government.

On May 7, the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine disrupted the online services of the Russian company 1C, which develops and maintains computer programs for maintaining business databases.

On June 12, specialists from the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine launched a cyberattack on Russian government resources and Russian airports, causing delays in several flights. 

On July 1, media reported that in May, specialists of the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine carried out a powerful cyberattack on Russian providers, which resulted in the network being unavailable in the temporarily occupied Crimea, as well as in the temporarily occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

On July 15, cyber specialists of Ukraine’s Defence Intelligence together with the volunteer hacker community attacked about 100 Russian web resources.