Kyivstar may need weeks to restore all services after cyber attack - CEO (updated)

VEON

14/12/2023 12:28

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       Dec 14 (Reuters) - Ukraine's biggest mobile operator
Kyivstar may need several weeks to reinstate all its services
after a massive cyber attack, though major services could be
restored by the end of this week, the company's CEO Oleksandr
Komarov said on Thursday. 
    Tuesday's attack on Kyivstar, which counts more than half of
Ukraine's population as mobile subscribers, knocked out services
and damaged IT infrastructure and air raid alert systems in
several regions.
    Komarov said he hoped the company would be able to fully
restore three major services - mobile internet, voice services,
and SMS - by the end of this week. 
    "(To restore) all additional services, from my point of
view, will probably take several weeks," he said in televised
comments. 
    On Wednesday, a group called Solntsepyok, believed by
Ukraine's security service SBU to be affiliated with Russian
military intelligence, said in a post on the Telegram messenger
that it carried out the attack. It published screenshots
appearing to show that the hackers had accessed Kyivstar’s
servers.
    Komarov said customer data was not compromised.
    "Photos appeared in Telegram channels are fabricated," he
said. Data was not damaged or lost, he stressed. 
        In its Telegram post revealing the hack, Solntsepyok
thanked unnamed "concerned colleagues" at Kyivstar. The SBU said
on Tuesday that it had opened a criminal case following the
cyberattack.
    Kyivstar's CEO said the hackers used an employee's
compromised account for the attack but how exactly they got
access to it is a matter of ongoing investigation.  

 (Reporting by Yuliia Dysa;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle
Editing by Mark Potter and Elaine Hardcastle)
 ((Yuliia.Dysa@thomsonreuters.com;))