The Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine (GUR) announced a successful cyberattack on a key communications server of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
According to a statement released by Ukrainian intelligence on the evening of 30 January, this cyber operation halted the information exchange between the Russian Ministry of Defense units using the Moscow-based server.
“As a result of a cyberattack, the server of the Defense Ministry of the aggressor state of Russia, which was used for special communications, went down,” the report detailed.
The software on the attacked server was reportedly approved by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and was claimed to meet the state standards for information protection. This software was also installed on various strategic facilities in the Russian state sector, including military ones, the GUR added.
Earlier reports indicated that websites within the Russian domain zone “ru” had experienced widespread outages. The Coordination Center of Domains .ru/.рф, the administrator of national domains, acknowledged the issue.
The internet disruptions were not confined to a single region. Significant interruptions were reported in several major Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, Moscow, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, and Rostov-on-Don, in the Far East, as well as in Kaliningrad, Samara, Omsk, and Kazan. Major Russian websites like Yandex and VK and various media outlets also faced operational issues.
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