Ukraine Blackjack hackers take down Moscow ISP in revenge for Kyivstar attack, but apparently they’re just warming up

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In response to the recent takedown of the Ukrainian telecom provider Kyivstar, the Blackjack group has targeted the Moscow based M9 Telecom.

The group claimed that the attack resulted in the total destruction of M9’s servers, website, branch websites, and mail server. All in all, around 20 terabytes of data was apparently deleted.

The Blackjack group said this attack is just a warmup for a later assault, “which will be a serious revenge for Kyivstar.” In the aftermath of the attack, the group also publicly released 10GB of data from M9’s mail servers and their client database.

An eye for an eye, and a telecom for a telecom

Last month, the Russian-backed Sandworm group took down Kyivstar services after lingering within its network since as early as May 2023. The attack resulted in a total network outage, causing disruption to communications in the capital and disabling a number of early warning systems in local villages. Last year's attack also prompted Kyiv residents to seek alternative telecom providers, causing network overloads for Lifecell and Vodafone in Ukraine.

The Blackjack group earlier targeted a Russian water utility firm with support from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) resulting in the group deleting 6 terabytes of data and stealing an additional 1.5 terabytes.

Russian and Ukrainian groups have been trading blows for a number of years, but cyber activity has increased in parallel with hostilities since the illegal Russian annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014. Russia has significant ramped up its cyberwarfare abilities in the wake of the full scale invasion of Ukraine as means of increasing its capacity for hybrid warfare and as practice and testing of its tactics, techniques and procedures (TTP).

As the invasion of Ukraine - dubbed by the Kremlin as a ‘special military operation’ - is set to enter its second year, Russia is expected to step up its cyber campaigns both against the Ukrainian civilian population and Ukraine’s allies as a way to erode support for both the government itself and any further provisions of military aid and funding.

Via SiliconAngle

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Benedict has been writing about security issues for over 7 years, first focusing on geopolitics and international relations while at the University of Buckingham. During this time he studied BA Politics with Journalism, for which he received a second-class honours (upper division), then continuing his studies at a postgraduate level, achieving a distinction in MA Security, Intelligence and Diplomacy. Upon joining TechRadar Pro as a Staff Writer, Benedict transitioned his focus towards cybersecurity, exploring state-sponsored threat actors, malware, social engineering, and national security. Benedict is also an expert on B2B security products, including firewalls, antivirus, endpoint security, and password management.