Major internet provider in Moscow and region could go bankrupt after cyber attack by Ukraine
Photo: hackers attacked the Internet provider of Moscow (Collage RBC-Ukraine)
One of the largest internet providers in Moscow and the region Rialcom may go bankrupt due to a hacker attack by Ukrainian intelligence, according to representatives of the hacker group BO Team.
It is reported that at the beginning of the week, the Ukrainian cyber group BO Team, in collaboration with the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, carried out a large-scale DoS attack on the servers of Russian state institutions and large companies that sponsor Russian aggression.
In particular, the attack involved blocking access to the electronic services of the State Services website and several ministries, including the Ministry of Defense, Finance, Internal Affairs, Justice, Industry, and Energy of Russia. Additionally, the website and services of the Federal Tax Service of Russia were blocked.
The hackers report that some consequences of the Ukrainian cyber attack can never be fixed by the opposing side. This specifically affects one of the largest internet providers in Moscow and the Moscow region - the company Rialcom.
Consequences of the attack on the provider
According to a statement from the cyber group BO Team, which claimed responsibility for the cyber attack, 10,200 of the provider's switches were disabled, customer databases were destroyed, and the company's website was taken offline.
As a result, internet and communication services were halted for several days for 3,452 legal entities and tens of thousands of individuals. Customers' personal accounts and payment services were only restored on June 3-4. Many Rialcom clients are major representatives of private business and the public sector.
Additionally, the personal data of users, including confidential information such as logins, passwords, and browsing histories, were leaked online. There have also been recorded instances of certain data being leaked to the FSB (Federal Service (of) Safety, the principal security agency of Russia).
Extent of the damages
Customers of the company are complaining about mass spam distribution, while one of the Rialcom executives, Aleksandr Belov, is trying to assure service users of the inviolability of the customer database.
According to available information, Rialcom's total losses have exceeded 178 million rubles (almost 2 million dollars), but this figure should also include the losses of the company's clients, who are demanding compensation for damages. Hackers believe that the final losses could far exceed 200 million rubles (over 2.2 million dollars).
It is worth noting that the company itself acknowledges the problem and assures in its social media channels that it will soon return to normal operations. Rialcom promises to compensate for all the days of forced downtime, but this will cost the company excessive resources and could lead to bankruptcy.
Cyber attacks on Russia
Since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine, a number of hackers have launched cyber attacks on Russian services. Recently, a source from RBC-Ukraine reported that hackers from the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine attacked the electronic services of several Russian ministries.
Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor claimed that the disruption was allegedly related to an accident on the main communication network.
