The Security Service of Ukraine identified the Russian hackers who attacked Kyivstar and will hand over the materials to The Hague

"Kyivstar» store, photo UNIAN

Cyber experts and investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine are gathering evidence against the hackers of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Federation (known as the GRU), who carried out an attack on the Kyivstar mobile operator.

After conducting all examinations and announcing suspicions, the materials of this investigation will be handed over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague, the SBU reported.

So far, the SBU has established that the attack on Kyivstar was carried out by the hacker group SandWorm, which is a full-time unit of the Russian GRU.

According to Illia Vitiuk, head of the Cyber Security Department of the SSU, the SSU is currently conducting a number of examinations of the systems affected by hackers and the damage caused. The special service also sent requests for additional information from international partners.

Illia Vitiuk emphasized that the SSU is investigating all vertical members who were involved in this attack.

«Not only the specific hacker, but also, at least, the head of the military unit and the leadership of the special service, which carries out destructive activities, should be responsible for what has been done,» he said.

At the same time, he emphasized that there are only three cases in the world when hackers were suspected of cyberattacks on infrastructure. Moreover, one of them is precisely the result of the SSU.

«We are working to announce suspicions in accordance with our legislation, and in the future to transfer these cases to the International Criminal Court. War criminals should be tried at the international level,» Illia Vitiuk said, emphasizing that cyber attacks on civilian infrastructure should be recognized as war crimes.

What is known about the hacker attack on «Kyivstar»?

We will remind you that on December 12, there was a major failure in the work of the operator «Kyivstar». Users have reported a lack of connection, the Internet, and the operator's website is also not working. In particular, the failure affected the operation of bank terminals and the notification system.

Later, «Kyivstar» stated that the cause of the large-scale disruption in work was a powerful hacker attack, but assured that the personal data of customers is safe. On the evening of December 12, the Kyivstar company announced that it had partially resumed the operation of fixed communication services (with stationary equipment).

«Kyivstar» also believes that on December 12, a hacker attack was carried out on the company, the likes of which have not yet occurred in the telecommunications industry in the world.

Mobile operator «Kyivstar» lost approximately 3.6 billion hryvnias during a massive cyber attack.

Russian hackers from the Solntsepek group claimed responsibility for the cyber attack on the Kyivstar mobile operator. The Security Service of Ukraine stated that these hackers work in a division of the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (GRU).

Communication operator «Kyivstar» cancels the next scheduled fee for the tariff for its users. The company also allocates 100 million hryvnias for the needs of the Armed Forces.