Ukraine claims a cyberattack on the Russian-owned firm Tupolev

Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR), part of the Ministry of Defence, claims to have hacked Tupolev, a Russian aerospace and defence company that manufactures supersonic strategic bombers.

According to Ukrainian media, a GUR source revealed that military intelligence officers successfully entered Tupolev’s networks and obtained about 4.44 terabytes of secret information.

This information purportedly includes personal information about Tupolev workers, internal emails, procurement paperwork, engineers’ and designers’ resumes, and minutes from covert meetings.

Although the exact timing of the intrusion has not been revealed, insiders say Ukrainian operatives have continued access to Tupolev’s network.

This continued presence allowed them to acquire intelligence that would be useful in future operations targeting Russia’s defence industry.

 

The Ukrainian-backed cyberattack claimed it had uncovered all of the confidential information stored in Tupolev.

 

According to a source who spoke with the Kyiv Post, the breach is significant because, in terms of Ukrainian intelligence, the Tupolev operations are no longer a secret.

The insider also emphasised that the operation yielded extensive information about persons associated with Russia’s strategic aviation efforts, hinting that the breach would have far-reaching consequences in operational and strategic areas.

In addition to obtaining crucial information, the cyber attackers allegedly vandalised Tupolev’s official website, replacing the homepage with an image of an owl holding an aeroplane.

The website currently links readers to the United Aircraft Corporation (UAC), a Russian state-owned conglomerate that owns multiple aerospace industries, including Tupolev, Mikoyan, Ilyushin, Irkut, Sukhoi, and Yakovlev.

This cyber operation follows a previous effort by Ukraine’s SBU, which recently used first-person-view (FPV) drones to launch strikes against 41 Russian military aircraft at four air bases.

GUR previously claimed to have infiltrated the servers of Russia’s Ministry of Defence and obtained sensitive papers containing classified information.

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in 2014, Ukrainian hacktivist organisations have repeatedly targeted Russian infrastructure. The ongoing geopolitical conflict between the two countries will likely lead to more cybercriminal activities as both parties would likely want to gain an advantage on every side of the battlefield.