Russian cyberattack paralyzes Ukraine’s state registers in massive assault

Due to Russia's massive cyberattack on Ukraine's state records, there is no risk of losing them. Fortunately, the attack did not impact the "Diia" application, a popular mobile app and web portal for e-governance in Ukraine.

According to Suspilne, Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration, Minister of Justice of Ukraine Olha Stefanishyna, announced this on December 20 at a briefing on the Russian cyberattack on state registers.

Stefanishyna reported that the Ministry of Justice's registers were suspended due to the Russian Federation's large-scale cyberattack. Restoration actions are currently underway. The events did not affect other state information resources, including the "Diia" application.

According to the minister, today, there are no restrictions on citizens' rights to access the registration of civil status acts, such as birth, death, marriage, and divorce. These can be carried out in the usual manner but using paper documents.

Stefanishyna stated that the Ministry of Justice website will soon have information on the civil status registration departments available for individuals to contact in various locations across Ukraine. She also mentioned that any applications for payments related to this matter will be addressed once the registries have been reinstated. She assured that the government would implement a decision that the application deadlines would not be counted until the registries were fully restored.

Notaries will handle will-related matters without access to the registries.

Stefanishyna believes that one of the most significant concerns currently is registering property and businesses, as it must be done solely through state registry software.

"All data that was in the registers that are in the Ministry of Justice is saved. They are subject to restoration. That is, the registers will be restored, and this data will be restored. It is only a matter of time," the minister said.

According to her, the inheritance register and the register of powers of attorney will be restored first. Next, the register of individuals and legal entities and the state register of rights to real estate will be restored.

The official explained that the registers' restoration will begin on Monday. They will try to fully restore them within two weeks.

"The most important thing for us is that there is no risk of losing data and that the registers function reliably," Stefanishyna said.

She added that all citizens who have questions not answered on the website can contact the hotline at the center of free legal aid.

Answering questions from journalists, Stefanishyna said that the data leak has not yet been confirmed.