In response to a request from Interfax Ukraine, the National Bank of Ukraine announced that its operations were disrupted by a Russian cyber attack that affected government registers.
The Department of Justice announced on December 19 a major network infrastructure outage affecting the state's registry. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishna later admitted that Russia had targeted the registry under the ministry's jurisdiction in order to disrupt critical infrastructure.
NBU said the cyber attack did not affect the national bank's operations.
“The information systems of all national banks are operational and continue to operate normally. However, the unavailability of certain state registries will impact banking operations, especially the opening of new accounts and the issuance of new loans. Masu.” said a regulator.
The NBU reports that it is preparing guidance for banks on account opening procedures during registry failures. The central bank noted that similar measures were implemented when it also lost access to state registers after Russia's full-scale invasion. Banks operated under these guidelines until mid-June 2022.
What we know about cyberattacks
The Diia government services app also reported temporary outages in several services, including employee reservations, LLC registration, online marriage services, property title registration, and vehicle reregistration.
The app's website pointed out that the national information system was carrying out the technical work, and stressed that Diia itself does not store personal data, but only retrieves information from the register.
Russian hacking network XakNet Team claimed to have penetrated the entire National Information System database and the Department of Justice database. They reportedly deleted more than 1 billion rows of data, including backup copies, stored on servers in Poland.
Stefanisina said on December 19 that initial recovery is expected to take up to two weeks.
The Ministry of Justice will prioritize the restoration of the Uniform Register of Powers of Attorney, Uniform Register of Special Documents, Notarial Deeds, and Inheritance Register to ensure proper accounting treatment and minimize negative impacts.
The deputy prime minister and minister of justice said on December 20 that the cyber attack on the state registry managed by Ukraine's Ministry of Justice did not affect other state information systems, including the Diia app.
At a joint press conference on December 20, Olha Stefanishina and representatives of the SBU announced that Ukraine has launched a criminal investigation into a possible cyber attack carried out by the GRU (Russian Military Intelligence Service) hacking group. announced.
The SBU could not answer whether Russia had access to the registration information. Stefanishina said that because there is a backup copy of the registry for the entire period, it is possible to return to normal operation if it is safe and there is no risk of irreversibility.
Since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it has regularly targeted Ukrainian businesses and government agencies with cyberattacks.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Russian special forces were planning to destroy Ukraine's entire cyber defense system. In August, a major Russian cyberattack targeted Monobank, Ukraine's largest online bank.
“The enemy is trying to use this situation for information operations and create panic among the Ukrainian population and abroad.” Stefanisina said.
According to U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Graham Steele, Ukraine's Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-UA) documented approximately 4,000 cyber incidents between January 2022 and September 2023.
Russia has consistently denied allegations related to its cyber activities, including claims that Kiev carried out a large-scale cyber attack as part of a “hybrid war” against Ukraine.
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