Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) launched a cyberattack attack against the servers of the Russian Defense Ministry, gaining access to "a bulk of classified service documents," the agency said on March 4.
The operation by military intelligence cyber specialists reportedly helped to obtain orders, reports, instructions, and reports "that circulated among about 2,000 structural units of the Russian security service," as well as information security and encryption software.
Cyberattacks have become an increasingly common tool employed by both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war. In one of the most devastating strikes, Russian hackers targeted Ukraine's telecommunications provider, Kyivstar, causing communication outages nationwide last December.
"Obtained information makes it possible to establish the full structure of the Russian Defense Ministry system and its links," the Ukrainian military intelligence agency said.
The analysis of captured data also helped to identify generals and other high-level commanders of the Russian Defense Ministry's structural units and "all those who used the software for electronic document management," the agency's statement read.
The agency claims to have obtained official documents of Timur Ivanov, a Russian deputy defense minister.
In late January, Ukrainian Intelligence reported on a cyberattack that allegedly "knocked out" the special communications server of the Russian Defense Ministry.
Russian officials did not comment on these statements.
Martin Fornusek
