Ukrainian military intelligence claims DDoS attacks on Russian banks

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency has claimed responsibility for multiple denial of service attacks on several Russian financial institutions that temporarily disrupted banking websites and mobile banking services.

 

Recently, many Russian banks reported suffering distributed denial of service attacks that interrupted their online services. VTB, a Russian state-owned bank, told local media that the attack originated from abroad.

 

“The Russian banking sector was subjected to a DDoS attack planned from abroad. A number of bank clients experienced problems due to high load on the infrastructure of Internet providers. Currently, VTB services and infrastructure are operating normally,” VTB told TASS.

 

Russian Agricultural Bank also reported suffering a DDoS attack. In a statement shared with Russian media Izvestia, the bank said that the attack started around 12 AM Moscow time on July 23 resulting in disruption in several services.

 

The bank, however, clarified that due to enhanced systems in place, it was able to recover and minimise the impact of disruptive attacks.

 

“All online services were available during the attack for most clients, and service interruptions were isolated. The attack is currently ongoing, and all client transactions are proceeding as normal," RSHB added.

 

Other Russian banks who reported suffering DDoS attacks included Alfa Bank, Rosbank and Post Bank.

 

On Wednesday, Ukraine’s military intelligence (HUR) claimed responsibility for the DDoS attacks on the Russian financial sector and added that the DDoS attack also affected several Russian payment systems and large telecom operators, including Beeline, Megafon, Tele2 and Rostelecom. A HUR official added that the attack “is still ongoing and far from over.”

 

This is not the first time Ukraine has launched DDoS attacks on Russian organisations. In October, A Ukrainian hacktivist group that calls itself the "IT Army of Ukraine" claimed responsibility for a significant DDoS attack on Leonardo, a leading Russian flight booking system.