Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) claims it hacked the Russian aerospace and defense company Tupolev, a key strategic bomber developer. According to various Ukrainian news outlets, these military intelligence hackers successfully breached Tupolev’s secure systems and then stole significant classified information. This stolen data reportedly amounts to a substantial 4.4 gigabytes and includes highly sensitive personal data of many Tupolev company personnel. Important internal communications, including messages exchanged by the company’s top management, and various critical procurement documents were also apparently compromised. Additionally, resumes of engineers and designers, along with the official minutes of many closed-door meetings, were part of the data haul.
While the exact timing of when Tupolev’s systems were initially breached was not disclosed, the GUR hackers were reportedly inside Tupolev’s network. This extended presence allowed them to collect other valuable information potentially useful for future cyber operations against Russia’s broader defense sector. An anonymous Ukrainian intelligence source told the Kyiv Post that the immense value of the obtained data is truly hard to overstate. They boldly asserted there is now virtually nothing secret left in Tupolev’s current operations as far as Ukrainian intelligence is concerned. Ukraine now possesses comprehensive information on individuals directly involved in maintaining Russia’s vital strategic aviation capabilities, with effects expected to be felt.
This claimed successful hack of the Tupolev company follows a recent impactful operation conducted by Ukraine’s Security Service, known widely as the SBU.
That specific SBU operation reportedly used numerous first-person-view drones to hit approximately 41 Russian warplanes at four different strategic airfields. Previously, the GUR has also publicly claimed it successfully breached the servers of the Russian Ministry of Defense, stealing sensitive official documents. Ukraine’s military intelligence has additionally made other unconfirmed breach claims against entities like the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency and the Federal Taxation Service. In at least two of these past cyberattacks, GUR operatives also allegedly destroyed critical databases and completely wiped servers storing essential data backups.
Beyond these official state intelligence operations, various Ukrainian hacktivists have also been actively targeting numerous different Russian organizations since the conflict began.
For instance, in January of this current year, the prominent Ukrainian Cyber Alliance (UCA) group successfully hacked the Russian internet service provider Nodex. During that significant cyber incident, they reportedly wiped the company’s compromised systems and also all of their absolutely essential data backups. UCA cyber activists have also publicly claimed responsibility for other impactful breaches that have affected various prominent Russian entities and also specific individuals. These varied targets have included a key political adviser to Vladimir Putin, the Russian Ministry of Defense, and several Russian military officers.
Reference:
