Pro-Russian Hackers Attack Central Election Commission Of Ukraine

Ukrainian hacker outfit CyberBerkut, which was previously spotted defacing at least 40 local media websites and carrying out a DDoS attack against NATO infrastructure, has struck again.

This time, the group has managed to break into the systems of the Central Election Commission (CEC) of Ukraine – an independent body of the Ukrainian government. The hackers have stolen large archive of emails, as well as the technical documentation of the CEC system administrators.

They refer to the current government of the country as a “junta” – a word which describes the ruling council of a military dictatorship.

TechWeekEurope has attempted to contact CyberBerkut, but received no reply at the time of writing.

Fighting the junta

“We, CyberBerkut, have totally destroyed the network and electronic infrastructure of the Ukrainian Central Election Commission as a protest against legitimation of the Kiev junta crimes,” says a statement emailed to TechWeekEurope.

“We declare that the Unified Information-Analytical System ‘Elections’ created under complete control of the United States ceased to exist.”

The release is accompanied by links to an archive which contains 1.2GB of emails, and another with 1.78 GB of administrator documentation. At the moment it is not clear whether the emails contain any incriminating information.

In the beginning of March, CyberBerkut defaced 40 local news websites with an image of the map of Ukraine partially covered by a swastika. The Facebook page for the group, which has since been taken down, claimed to represent “Ukrainian people” and threatened the “traitors” and “fascists” (presumably pro-European protesters), instructing them to hand themselves in.

CyberBerkut then attacked several NATO websites, just a day before the controversial referendum in which Crimea voted to leave Ukraine and become part of Russia.

Berkut was the name of the riot squads employed by the ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovich.

How well do you know network security? Try our quiz and find out!