Ukraine’s cyber operation shut down the ATM services of major Russian banks

Ukraine launched a massive cyber operation that shut down the ATM services of the biggest Russian banks on July 27, reported the Kyiv Post.

Ukraine has launched a massive cyberattack against ATMs of Russian banks, the cyber operation began on July 23.

“This is an opportune moment to fully implement the Kremlin’s long-desired ‘import substitution’ in the form of wooden abacuses, paper savings books, and cave paintings for accounting.” reported the KyivPost. “In Russia, it has already been acknowledged that the widespread disruption of online services is the result of an attack by “politically motivated hackers.” Ukrainian intelligence told us that the attack is ongoing and far from over.”

A Ukrainian intelligence source told Kyiv Post that the attack is described as “gaining momentum”. The hacking campaign is part of the ongoing cyber operation amid the broader conflict between Russia and Ukraine. The list of hacked Russian banks includes Dom.RF, VTB Bank, Alfa-Bank, Sberbank, Raiffeisen Bank, RSHB Bank, Rosbank, Gazprombank, Tinkoff Bank and iBank.

The debit and credit cards of many bank customers were immediately blocked when they attempted to use ATMs. The attack included freezing bank payment systems and mobile applications, causing outages in personal offices, and preventing payments for public transport.

“An unprecedented attack by cyber specialists of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine [HUR] on the russian banking sector, which is involved in financing the armed aggression of the russian federation, has been going on for several days in a row,” a source working in Ukrainian intelligence told Kyiv Post.

.The cyberattack carried out by Ukraine also disrupted services from Russian mobile and internet providers Beeline, MegaFon, Tele2, and Rostelecom. The hackers also targeted popular online messengers and major Russian social networks. The Kyiv Post also states that nation-state hackers gained access to the databases of major banks.

“We are making every effort to accelerate this process and return Muscovites to a time when Bitcoin, stock shares, or even the dollar had no impact on their lives. After all, they simply won’t have access to these,” an HUR source told Kyiv Post.

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Russian banks, ATM services)