Ukrainian hackers attack Kremlin's state TV broadcasters

An informed source shared the information, according to hromadske.

On the morning of October 7, Russian Telegram channels reported that the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company's internal server was "down," the program containing the original stories was not working, and there were problems with passes.

Channels and radio stations such as Rossiya-1, Rossiya-24, Kultura, Vesti FM, Mayak, and a number of others were not available on the website.

Although the channel's airtime was not interrupted, there were problems with its content. According to Baza, the hacker attack took down the internal server, and with it the Dalet program, where the original stories are stored.

"The journalists are currently in discussions, uncertain whether the content will remain or be deleted," the channel reported. A few hours later, archived videos were subsequently uploaded to the channel.

Additionally, requests for temporary passes have vanished, forcing employees to complete paperwork manually.

According to a source, Ukrainian hackers were behind the attack. The anonymous pro-Ukrainian hacker group known as Sudo rm-RF has claimed responsibility for the incident.

"They 'congratulated' Putin on his birthday. According to our information, not only the online broadcasting of these TV channels, but also the television broadcasting is down in Russia. The company's employees are whining that all information on the servers, even backups, is destroyed, online broadcasting and internal services are down, there is no Internet or telephony," the source told hromadske.

Kremlin's response

Dmitry Peskov called the hacker attack “unprecedented,” assuring that experts are “making great efforts” to eliminate the consequences of the attack on the “critical infrastructure facility.”

“Right at this hour, huge efforts are being made to overcome the consequences of this hacker attack, specialists are working to find out all the circumstances and understand where the traces of those who organized this hacker attack on a critical infrastructure facility lead,” he said.

“I would like to express my support to the staff of All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. Our state information holding, one of the largest, has faced an unprecedented hacker attack on its digital infrastructure,” Peskov added.

• On August 22, cyber specialists of the Ukrainian intelligence service attacked the servers of Russian TV channels and showed videos about the war in Ukraine in prime time.