Critical Infrastructure Security

Major Russian bank reportedly hacked by Ukraine

Alfa-Bank, the largest private bank in Russia, was confirmed by a source from the SBU to have been hacked in a joint operation by Ukrainian hacktivist groups KibOrg and NLB and the country's security agency last week, reports The Record, a news site by cybersecurity firm Recorded Future. More than 30 million Alfa-Bank customers had their data, including names, birthdates, phone numbers, and account numbers, compromised as a result of the cyberattack, said KibOrg on its official website. Information from Alfa-Bank co-founder Mikhail Fridman and his son Artemy Lebedev, as well as Russian rappers Basta and Timati, have been leaked by the attackers, who expressed plans to provide the stolen information to investigative journalists. Such a leak has been denied by Alfa-Bank. Prior to the attack, Ukraine's intelligence had already worked with hacktivists to strengthen its cyber intelligence efforts amid its ongoing war against Russia. "Cyber intelligence helps us to obtain top-secret enemy documents. In the past, we had to recruit a spy in the enemy's country to get this kind of material, which was risky and time-consuming," said Ukraine Department of Cyber Information Security Chief Illia Vitiuk.

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