The website for Russia’s Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities has reportedly been hacked. An internet search for the site lead users to a “Glory to Ukraine” sign in Ukrainian.
On Sunday, Russia’s state news agency, RIA, quoted a representative from the ministry, revealing that the site was down, however users’ personal data was unaffected. According to the RIA, the hackers were demanding a ransom to prevent the disclosure of sensitive data to the public.
This attack follows many others that have been suffered by Russian state-owned companies in the recent months following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this year, in February, St-Petersburg-based news outlet Fontanka’s content was replaced with a message aimed at Russian citizens reading, “This is not our war, let’s stop it!” Similarly, state-owned daily newspaper Kommersant and news agency TASS were hacked.
Last month, on ‘Victory Day’, Russia’s television listings system was hacked too. The hack affected many major networks, including Rossiya-1, NTV-Plus and Channel One.
Also in May, the hacktivist group Anonymous announced via social media that they are launching a cyber-war against Killnet, a pro-Russian group, which recently attacked European institutions. Earlier this year, in March, Anonymous claimed it breached the database of the Russian federal agency responsible for the supervision of information technology, communications and mass media. They claim to have leaked 360,000 files in the attack.
