Ukraine blames Russia for attempted cyberattack on its telecommunications network.

On December 4th, the Security Service of Ukraine, known as SBU, reported that it contained an attempted cyberattack on its information and telecommunication systems. Ukrainian authorities have blamed Russia for the attack. Attackers utilized email phishing as a means to target Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.

Details of the phishing attack.

SBU reported that hackers tried to trick SBU employees into downloading counterfeit accounting documents infected with a virus, in the hopes of interfering with Ukraine’s judicial information systems and stealing official information. SBU identified that the malware was connected to control-command servers with Russian IP addresses. The State Judicial Administration and the State Special Communications Services together managed to contain the cyberattack. However, they did not provide details on when the attack took place or how many systems were targeted. SBU has taken steps to implement stringent security measures to avoid such incidents in the future.

In recent years, organizations in Ukraine have been the target of several cyberattacks originating from Russia. In 2014, pro-Russian hackers launched a series of cyberattacks to disrupt Ukraine’s presidential elections. In 2015 and 2016, hackers compromised the information systems of three Ukrainian energy distribution companies. And in 2017, many organizations in Ukraine fell victim to the powerful NotPetya ransomware attack.

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