Ukrainian cyberintelligence attack paralyzes Russia’s tax system

Cyber units of Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Directorate successfully attacked the Russian tax system, managing to destroy the entire database and its backup copies. 

Russia will now struggle to fully revive its institution, Rubryka reports.

During a special operation, military intelligence operatives were able to breach one of the well-protected central servers of the Federal Tax Service of Russia (FTS RF). From there, they infiltrated more than 2,300 regional servers across Russia and in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea.

As a result of the cyber attack, all servers were infected with malicious software.

Attempts to restore the operation of the Russian tax system have been unsuccessful for the fourth consecutive day. According to experts' estimates, the paralysis of the FTS RF will last at least a month. Meanwhile, the full-scale revival of the aggressor state's tax system is deemed impossible, according to intelligence reports.

Ukrainian experts also attacked the Russian IT company Office.ed-it.ru, which serviced the FTS RF.

As a result of two cyber attacks, the configuration files that have ensured the functioning of the extensive Russian tax system for years have been completely eliminated: the entire database and its backup copies are destroyed.

Communication between the central office in Moscow and 2,300 Russian territorial offices is paralyzed, as is the connection between the FTS RF and Office.ed-it.ru, which served as the tax data center.

The Defense Intelligence Directorate notes that this essentially amounts to the complete destruction of the infrastructure of one of the key state bodies in Russia and numerous related tax data for a significant period.

Moreover, internet traffic of tax data throughout Russia is now under the control of Ukrainian military intelligence.