Hackers breached Kyivstar's security through employee account – CEO

Russian hackers breached the cybersecurity of Kyivstar, Ukraine's largest mobile operator, through a compromised account belonging to one of its employees.

Source: Oleksandr Komarov, Kyivstar’s CEO, during the national joint 24/7 newscast, Interfax-Ukraine reports

Quote: "We have to admit that this attack breached our security barriers. It happened because an 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: Komarov added that he does not know the conclusions of the investigation yet.

According to Komarov, the issue is not technology but the fact that any organisation can have people who could "hypothetically 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 cyberthreats and has repelled about 500 cyberattacks 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 cyberthreats. This is not the first year we have faced this 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 stir up trouble, to affect Ukrainians emotionally... There’s a war going on - this is one of the ways they fight 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 tonight.

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