The Security Service of Ukraine has opened a criminal investigation into a cyberattack on the state registers of the Ministry of Justice and established that a hacker group affiliated with the main intelligence directorate of the general staff of the russian armed forces (‘the GRU’) was involved in it.

The acting Head of the SSU Cyber Security Department Volodymyr Karastelyov informed the audience about this during a joint briefing with the Vice Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of Ukraine and Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna.

‘From the very first minutes, the SSU Cyber Security Department arrived at the scene and immediately got involved in the efforts to contain the cyberattack. Overall, we are working in three areas: repelling the attack, restoring the infrastructure and documenting this war crime. The main line of enquiry is that russian intelligence services, in particular a GRU hacker group, is behind this cyberattack,’ said Volodymyr Karastelyov.

According to the chief of the Cyber Security Department, the criminal proceedings are investigated under Article 438 of the CCU (violation of laws and customs of war).

On a regular basis, the SSU provides recommendations on cyber security and technical assistance at the request of institutions and authorities.

According to Olha Stefanishyna, the state registers administered by the Ministry of Justice have been suspended, and efforts are underway to restore them. All the data that was in the registers have been preserved and will also be restored.

The Ministry of Justice noted that the cyberattack did not affect the operation of other state information systems.