Russian satellite communications provider allegedly disrupted by hacking operation

Threat actors claiming to be part of Russian private mercenary army Wagner Group admitted to having hacked major Russian satellite communications provider Dozor-Teleport, which caters to the Russian government and energy firms, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. Dozor-Teleport had some of its satellite terminals allegedly compromised by attackers, who claimed to destroy confidential data on the provider's servers while exposing 700 stolen documents and images on a leak site and their Telegram channel. While the veracity of attackers' claims on their ties with the Wagner Group is in question, SentinelLabs researcher Tom Hegel has noted the intrusion to be legitimate, with Ukraine Cyber Alliance spokesperson Sean Townsend stating that restoration of Dozor-Teleport's systems could take up to weeks. Attackers claiming to be from the Wagner Group have also defaced various Russian websites but former Russian journalist Oleg Sharikov downplayed the association of both attacks with the group and floated the possibility of "Ukrainian false flag trolling."