VGTRK broadcasting targeted by a pro-Ukrainian cyberattack

VGTRK, a Russian state broadcasting company, is the latest target of a massive cyberattack allegedly carried out by Kyiv hackers.

A Ukrainian government source revealed that the cyberattack disrupted the activities of the Russian state media firm on Putin’s birthday. This All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, also known as Russian Television and Radio, is a national state-owned broadcaster that operates various television and radio channels in 53 Russian languages. The company was established in 1990 and is headquartered in the nation’s capital.

 

A government representative confirmed that the VGTRK cyberattack was due to a hacking incident.

 

According to the Kremlin spokesperson, the recent VGTRK outage was caused by a hacking attack on the country’s digital infrastructure.

This widespread cyberattack on VGTRK compromised the company’s internet broadcasts, internal services, and communications, allegedly wiping servers and backups. In addition, the hack shut down the VGTR website and its Rossiya-24 rolling 24-hour news station earlier this week.

Furthermore, viewers who attempted to watch the live feed reported receiving a “503 Service Unavailable” message.

The spokesperson also disclosed that the attack on its digital infrastructure compromised one of the country’s most significant state media holdings. As of now, the nation’s specialists are trying to determine how the attackers have compromised their stations. The investigation also tries to find out which specific pro-Ukrainian group is behind the hack.

On the other hand, a Ukrainian source revealed that the attack’s cybercriminal operators were motivated to congratulate Putin on his birthday. Hence, they launched a massive attack on the all-Russian state TV and radio broadcasting firm.

The local media then explained that the Ukrainian hackers used malicious code to delete the VGTRK servers, destroying the backups. Russian officials have not openly blamed Ukraine for the cyberattack.

Russian media has been the subject of cyber attacks since the start of the geopolitical conflict between the two nations. The Russian government claims that these cyber operations are part of a modern form of hybrid war, where both nations use the digital landscape as a battlefield.