Massive Russian cyberattack hits Ukraine’s state registries, justice minister says

Meduza.io

Ukraine’s Justice Ministry has been hit by its most extensive external cyberattack in recent memory, targeting state registries, Justice Minister Olha Stefanishyna reported.

“It is already clear that the attack was carried out by Russians to disrupt the operations of the state’s critical infrastructure,” Stefanishyna wrote. She added that Russia is “trying to exploit this situation in its information campaigns to sow panic among Ukrainian citizens and abroad.”

The day before, the ministry reported a “major failure in the network infrastructure servicing the registries,” but provided no further details.

Stefanishyna said the immediate priority is to restore access to the civil status registry, the registry of legal entities and individuals, and the property rights registry. Preliminary estimates suggest that full restoration could take up to two weeks.

Once the systems are restored, Stefanishyna said, authorities will conduct a detailed analysis of the attack in collaboration with relevant agencies to strengthen defenses against similar interference in the future.