Ukrainian hackers attacked the resources of the “All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company” (VGTRK), which includes Kremlin channels such as “Russia-1”, “Russia-24” and others. On the morning of October 7, Russian Telegram channels reported a failure in VGTRK’s internal servers. As a result of the attack, key programs and systems of the company stopped working, including Dalet, the platform on which original stories for broadcasts are stored.
The attack also affected the holding’s channels and radio stations, such as Vesti FM, Mayak and Kultura, but the broadcast itself was not interrupted. However, serious problems arose in filling the airwaves and, as a result, archival materials were released. In addition, the failures affected the pass system, forcing the company’s employees to manually complete the procedures to gain access to the building.
The pro-Ukrainian hacking group Sudo rm-RF claimed responsibility for the attack. The hackers said it was their “congratulatory” action for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s birthday. They claim that as a result of the attack, all data on servers, including backups, was destroyed and the operation of the company’s online streaming and internal services was disrupted.
