The Russian media and internet regulator Roskomnadzor said on November 19 that their systems were breached by hackers, who they believe were the work of the Belarusian cybercriminal gang ‘Cyber Partisans’. However, reports revealed that the hackers have not accessed sensitive information and that its workstations were not encrypted.
A day before Roskomnadzor announced the security breach, the Cyber Partisans gang took to Twitter about their attack on the Russian internet regulator, allegedly stealing thousands of internal docs and locking its computer systems. These documents are said to be handed over to journalists for further analysis.
Cyber Partisans first attempted to hack the Russian internet regulator last month.
The first attempt of the Belarusian hacktivists on Roskomnadzor was in October when they tried to exploit a previously detected vulnerability. Yet, researchers admit that several cyberattack attempts are recorded against the Russian internet regulator almost every day, with over ten detected daily attempts.
Furthermore, as per the investigation of the incident, Roskomnadzor’s systems have been under control, and there was no evidence of a data leak. Cyber Partisans, on the other hand, claimed that they had stolen numerous sensitive data from the Russian internet regulator, including employees’ medical and passport data, internal emails, and critical project reports.
Cyber Partisans added that since Roskomnadzor claimed that the stolen data were non-classified, it is with a clear conscience that they release the data to the public.
As proof, the hacktivist shared screenshots of some of the documents from the Russian internet regulator that they had allegedly leaked. One of them was Russia’s Office of Operational Interaction’s web page, utilised as an automated system to track anti-war resources online.
The alleged stolen and leaked data from Roskomnadzor are feared to uncover some unexpected revelations once made public.
Some media outlets have previously shared intelligence reports about files leaked from Roskomnadzor, which involves Russia’s vast surveillance state. Other related news also stated that the Russian internet regulator was using automated systems to monitor people’s online behaviour and content that could potentially destabilise Russia’s sociopolitical standing.
