Kyivstar starts restoring voice services -CEO (updated)

VEON

13/12/2023 18:48

(Adds CEO quotes, details from paragraph 2)
    By Olena  Harmash
       KYIV, Dec 13 (Reuters) - Ukraine's top mobile phone
operator Kyivstar started restoring voice services to some
clients on Wednesday after its networks were knocked out by a
major cyber attack, its CEO Oleksandr Komarov said, with data
and other services to follow.
    The company, which provides services to more than half of
Ukraine's population, sustained "huge" damage during the attack
on Tuesday, Komarov told Reuters, calling it "the biggest cyber
attack on telco infrastructure in the world".
   "The current situation in Kyivstar is extremely difficult. I
am quite confident that this is a well-planned, long-term
focused attack on Ukrainian critical infrastructure," Komarov
said in an interview.
   Hundreds of experts and dozens of institutions are involved
in a major effort to restore services to millions given the
level of damage.
    "We will not turn on the voice (services) all over the
country at the same time. We will go step by step to make sure
that the services which were rebuilt work stably, that they can
withstand the load and we can move on to restore mobile internet
services," Komarov said.
    Kyivstar provides mobile, Internet and other services to
about 24 million private consumers and is also a vital backbone
for thousands of private businesses and many digitised state
services.
    Two Russian groups have claimed responsibility for the
attack. Reuters could not immediately verify the authenticity of
the claims and Moscow has not commented.
    Russia has been targeting Ukraine's critical infrastructure
since it invaded in February 2022, with hundreds of missiles and
drones frequently striking power, grain, and port facilities.
    Komarov said that Kyivstar had withstood hundreds of serious
cyber attacks since the start of the war which is now in its
22nd month.
   "It was not the first attack. The number of attacks since the
beginning of the invasion has grown exponentially."
    Tactics were changing and varied from distributed denial of
service (DDoS) attacks to attempts to penetrate networks or use
Kyivstar's infrastructure in occupied territories to penetrate
its systems.
    Ukraine's SBU security service has launched an investigation
into the attack and Kyivstar was collaborating closely, Komarov
said.
    Kyivstar, owned by Amsterdam-listed mobile telecoms operator
Veon  VON.AS , had average daily revenue of about 100 million
hryvnias ($2.7 million) but its services have been knocked out
for two days already.
    Many of Kyivstar's clients also bought sim cards for other
operators to remain connected and Komarov said the return
process "would not be immediate".
    However, the company was committed to restoring its
services. 
    "We have all the resources, we are moving forward, moving
carefully," Komarov said.

 (Additional reporting by Stefania Bern; Editing by Kirsten
Donovan)
 ((Olena.Harmash@thomsonreuters.com;))