Massive Russian Intel Cyberattack on Ukraine’s Justice Ministry

Russian intelligence services are involved in a large-scale cyberattack, which has led to the suspension of operations of the Unified and State Registers under the jurisdiction of Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice, according to the Cybersecurity Department of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on Friday, Dec. 20.

The SBU said it has opened a criminal investigation into the cyberattack.

“The main [scenario] being considered by the SBU is that Russian intelligence services, specifically groups linked to the GRU [Russia’s military intelligence agency] of the Russian General Staff, are behind this cyberattack,” said acting head of the SBU Cybersecurity Department, Volodymyr Karastelov, adding that “an investigation is currently underway to assess the possibility of data leakage as a result of the large-scale cyberattack on the state registers.”

As of midday on Dec 20, the National Information Systems (NAIS) website, the Ministry of Justice, the Unified and State Registers (about 60 different registers) are still not functioning.

Russian propaganda is spreading false claims that access to the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers databases has been blocked due to a cyberattack. The Countering Disinformation Center at the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) asserts that access to the Oberih database has not been lost and the Reserv+ app is working.

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‘Go to Hell,’ Says Russian Nurse to N. Korean Wounded at Overwhelmed Hospital – SBU Intercept

Hospital wards are being prioritized for DPRK militants, while wounded Russian soldiers are left in worse conditions, according to a Russian nurse during an intercepted phone conversation.

Reserv+ is a digital platform developed by the Ministry of Defense for effective management of reservists and mobilization processes. It consolidates data on military personnel, allowing quick updates and simplifies administrative procedures.

Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna, stated that there is currently no threat of data loss following the large cyberattack on the state registers. All data that was in the registers is preserved and will be restored.

“I want to immediately note that the events related to the Ministry of Justice’s registers have not affected other state information systems, including the ‘Diia’ application, in terms of the data from the Ministry of Justice registers,” she said.

Stefanishyna stated that work on restoring the register data is ongoing. The data in the Ministry of Justice’s registers has been preserved and will be restored. The first to be restored will be the registers related to notaries, as well as the property rights register and the register of legal and physical entities.

“It is already clear that the attack was carried out by the Russians with the aim of disrupting the operation of the state’s critical infrastructure,” she said.

Officials reported that the initial restoration time for the registers may be approximately two weeks.