Pro-Ukrainian hackers erase 2 petabytes of data from Russian research center
Pierluigi Paganini
January 27, 2024
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense’s Main Intelligence Directorate announced that pro-Ukrainian hackers have erased two petabytes of data from a Russian research center.
The Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced that the pro-Ukrainian hacker group “BO Team” erased the database of the Far Eastern Space Hydrometeorological Research Center “Planet”.
The Russian center processes data received from satellites and also provides related products to more than 50 state agencies, including the Ministry of the Army, the General Staff and the services of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
“Cyber volunteer patriots of the group “BO Team” carried out an attack on the Far Eastern (largest of three) division of the NDC Space Hydrometeorology “Planet”. Read the press release issued by the Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. “The consequences are devastating.”
The hackers erased 2 petabytes of data from 280 servers, severely impacting the center’s operations.
The press release estimates that the Russian agency’s financial losses are at least $10 million.
The impact of this incident has been devastating and is partially exacerbated by sanctions against Russia that complicate the provision of hardware and software.
The cyberattack also affected the center building’s air conditioning, humidification system, and emergency power supply.
“In general, dozens of strategic enterprises of the Russian Federation that operate in the interests of ‘defense’ and play an important role in supporting the Russian occupation forces are deprived of vital information and services for long periods of time. ” concludes the press release.
The press release did not include technical details about the attack. It is unclear how the BO team infiltrated the Russian government agency or whether they used malware to erase the data.
It is unclear whether this cyber operation was supported by Ukrainian intelligence.
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Pierluigi Paganini
(Security related matters – Russian Research Center, Ukraine)
