A group of Belarusian hacker activists claims to have infiltrated the networks of the country’s main security agency, the KGB, and accessed the personnel files of more than 8,600 employees of the organization, which still goes by the name Soviet Union.
Authorities have not commented on the claims, but the Belarusian KGB website opened on Friday showing an empty page marked “In Development.”
To support its claims, the Belarusian cyber partisan group published a list of website administrators, databases and server logs on its page on the messaging app Telegram.
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Group coordinator Yuliana Shametabets told The Associated Press from New York that the attack on the KGB was a “reaction” to KGB chief Ivan Tertel. Tertel publicly accused the group this week of planning attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure, including nuclear power plants. .
“The KGB is carrying out the greatest political repression in the history of this country, and we must respond to it,” Shametavetz said. “We are working to save the lives of Belarusians, not to destroy them like the repressive Belarusian special forces.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko pose for a photo during a meeting at the Kremlin on Thursday, April 11, 2024 in Moscow, Russia. (Gabriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin pool photo, via AP)
Shametabetz said the group gained access to KGB networks “several years ago” and has been trying to hack KGB websites and databases ever since. Once successful, the cyberpartisans were able to download the personal files of more than 8,600 KGB personnel, she said.days
Based on that data, cyberpartisans launched a chatbot on Telegram that allowed Belarusians to identify KGB operatives by uploading photos.
“We want to show that in the digital world it is impossible to hide information and that the truth of political repression will come to the surface and those who carry out repression will be punished,” Shametabetz said.
Last week, cyberpartisans claimed to have broken into computers at the country’s largest fertilizer factory in an effort to pressure the government to release political prisoners. The state-run Grodno-Azot factory has not commented on the allegations, but its website has been inaccessible since April 17.
With around 7,500 employees, Grodno Azot is a major producer in a country heavily dependent on the chemical industry.
Belarus, a close ally of Russia, was rocked by mass protests after the 2020 election that gave authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. The vote was denounced as fraudulent by Western countries and opposition groups. Authorities responded by arresting more than 35,000 people and brutally beating thousands. Many opposition leaders were arrested and sentenced to long prison terms, while others fled the country.
Viasna, Belarus’ oldest and most prominent rights group, announced that nearly 1,400 people are political prisoners, including Belarus’ founder and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Biaryatsky.
Cyber partisans have carried out several large-scale attacks on Belarusian state media in the past four years, and in 2022 they hacked Belarusian railways three times, taking control of traffic lights and control systems, and stealing access to Russian military equipment. It paralyzed shipping to Ukraine. Belarus.
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“We are telling the Belarusian authorities that if they do not stop political repression, the situation will get even worse,” Shametavets said. “We will continue our attacks to inflict maximum damage on Lukashenko’s regime.”
