Ukraine Claims it Hacked Russian MoD

Hackers operating from Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) have claimed another scalp; the Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD).

The GUR, part of Kyiv’s Ministry of Defense, said a “special operation” enabled it to breach the servers of the Russian MoD (Minoborony) to obtain sensitive documents.

These included orders and reports apparently circulated among over 2000 structural units of the ministry.

“The information obtained allows us to establish the complete structure of the system of the Russian Ministry of Defense and its units,” the GUR claimed.

“The analysis of the obtained data also helped to identify the general, other high-ranking managers of the structural divisions of the [ministry], as well as deputies, assistants, specialists – all who used software for electronic document management called ‘bureaucrat’.”

Read more on Ukrainian attacks on Russia: Ukraine Claims it “Paralyzed” Russia’s Tax System

This included some documents belonging to deputy Russian defense minister, Timur Vadimovich Ivanov, whom the GUR cryptically noted “played an important role in the success of the cyber-attack.”

Another scalp for the hackers was exfiltration of details about the encryption software used by Minoborony, “as well as an array of secret service documents” belonging to the ministry.

“Work in Russia’s cyberspace, aimed at obstructing and paralyzing the activities of law enforcement agencies and officials of the aggressor state responsible for the war against the Ukrainian people, continues,” it concluded.

The attacks have yet to be officially verified, but if true would represent another major boon for Kyiv, even as Russian forces begin to turn the tide their way on the battlefield.

In December last year, the GUR claimed it had crippled Russia’s federal tax system after launching destructive malware at Russia’s Federal Taxation Service (FTS), and over 2300 regional servers.

In January this year, an attack by “volunteer patriots” hit Russia’s State Research Center on Space Hydrometeorology (Planeta). Ukraine claimed the attack destroyed 280 servers and two petabytes of information, including “unique research.”