Hackers breach Kyivstar’s security through employee account – CEO
Pravda Ukraine
Russian hackers have breached the cyber security of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, through the compromised account of one of its employees.
Source: Oleksandr Komarov, Kyivstar’s CEO, on air during the national joint 24/7 newscast, Interfax-Ukraine reports
Quote: “We have to admit that this attack breached our security barriers. This happened because the account was compromised, the pool account of one of our employees was compromised, and the enemy was able to get inside the company’s infrastructure. This is being investigated.”
Details: He added that he does not know the conclusions of the investigation yet.
According to Komarov, the issue is not about technology but about the fact that any organisation can have people who “conditionally guide Russian missiles or give away their passwords because social engineers work well”.
Komarov also said that the company used the most advanced technologies to protect against cyber threats and has repelled about 500 cyber attacks since the start of the full-scale invasion.
“It seems to me that the example of Kyivstar shows that even the most secure infrastructure can be affected. It is real.
We use the most advanced technologies from global suppliers to keep the company’s perimeter protected from cyber threats. This is not the first year we have been facing the threat, and we have repelled about 500 more or less serious attacks since the beginning of the war,” he summed up.
The attack was carried out by the Russian hacker group Solntsepyok, which, according to the Security Service of Ukraine, is close to the Russian GRU (Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces).
“They did it to take down the largest telecommunications infrastructure in the country, to sow trouble, to emotionally affect Ukrainians… the ongoing war is one of the ways of war against Ukraine,” Komarov added.
Background:
- At 18:00, on 13 December, mobile operator Kyivstar started to turn on voice communication throughout Ukraine.
- Kyivstar is doing everything possible to restore SMS and data services at night.
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