Cyber experts from Ukraine's military intelligence (GUR) have carried out a large-scale attack on the network infrastructure of Russian energy giant "Gazprom", causing serious disruptions to the company and its subsidiaries, an intelligence source reported, quoted by "Kyiv Independent".
According to the source, access to internal systems was blocked for nearly 20,000 system administrators, and backup copies of key databases were deleted. The attack affected about 390 subsidiaries and branches of "Gazprom", including "Gazprom Teplo Energo", "Gazprom Obl Energo" and "Gazprom Energozbit".
The hackers destroyed clusters of "extremely powerful" servers running 1C software - a widely used system for managing documents, contracts and analytical data. Data related to pipelines, valves, pumps and SCADA systems - critical to the company's technical infrastructure - were also damaged.
On many servers, the operating systems were removed or disabled, and the BIOS - the main firmware of the devices - was damaged, making the machines unusable without physical repair.
HUR commented on the attack with irony, stating: "The degradation of Russian information systems to the technological Middle Ages continues.
"We congratulate the Russian "cyber specialists" for this new achievement and we recommend that they replace their mice and keyboards with hammers and pliers."
"Kyiv Independent" specifies that it cannot independently confirm the claims of Ukrainian intelligence. At the moment, "Gazprom" and the Russian authorities have not issued an official comment on the case.
The cyberattack on "Gazprom" follows several recent Ukrainian attacks on Russian infrastructure. On July 15, the GUR and partner groups attacked a supplier of drones for the Russian army, destroying over 47 terabytes of data. In June, the network of the Siberian internet provider "Orion Telecom", used by Russian law enforcement agencies, was also paralyzed.
"Gazprom" is Russia's state-owned energy company and one of the largest producers and exporters of natural gas in the world. Ukraine accuses the company of actively cooperating with Russian military aggression.