Ukrainian hacker group launches unprecedented cyberattack on Russian propaganda network

The All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), a Kremlin-owned broadcaster, was the target of an unprecedented cyberattack by Ukrainian hackers earlier today.

According to the Russian publication Gazeta.ru, citing an anonymous source at VGTRK with knowledge of the matter, “online broadcasting and internal services [at VGTRK] were down, there’s no internet or telephony.”

The source added that, “This is going to last a while. I’ve heard that everything has been wiped from the servers, including backups. They’ve been scrambling to fix it since 6 a.m. From what I understand, the issue is very serious, and recovery will take a long time.”

Independent Russian journalist Alexander Plyushchev confirmed the information on his Telegram channel, stating, “The entire news complex of [VGTRK-controlled channel] Rossiya 1 at Yamskoye Pole [in Moscow] has been down since 5 a.m. The central controller and all servers crashed.”

According to the St.Petersburg-based publication Fontanka, users in Russia were able to access the online streams of the Rossiya 1 and Rossiya 24 channels, though digital TV broadcasting remained uninterrupted — meaning the channels could still be watched on television.

Likewise, state-owned media outlet TASS quoted VGTRK’s press service as saying that the cyberattack on its online services has not significantly affected operations: “VGTRK specialists are working on mitigating the attack’s consequences, and everything is functioning as usual,” the press service stated.

The pro-Ukrainian hacker group Sudo rm-RF claimed responsibility for the cyberattack on VGTRK, as per a report from RBC-Ukraine citing sources with knowledge of the matter. In August 2023, the same group hacked the Moscow Real Estate Registration Bureau (MosgorBTI), gaining access to property data in Moscow, which they claimed to have handed over to Ukrainian authorities.