Russian TV channels hacked, air Ukraine war documentaries
22 August 2024 09:52
Nine Russian television channels were attacked by hackers. Russians saw documentaries about the war in Ukraine on their screens. The attack is unofficially claimed by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine.
War recordings were shown to viewers of nine TV stations. The broadcast of external materials, transmitted as a result of the hacking attack, appeared three times during prime time.
These were seen by, among others, viewers of Pervouralsk TV, Eurasia 360, and Eurasia First Channel. Most of the attacked broadcasters belong to the media holding of oligarch Andrey Komarov.
Cyberattack on Russian TV stations. Not the first time Ukraine strikes in digital space
Information about this action was communicated by a source in Ukrainian military intelligence to the Unian agency. The informant also reported that by the morning of August 22, only a few channels, including Eurasia 360 and TV-3, had partially resumed operation, while others were down for several more hours. This would be early morning ET (Eastern Time).
Television Pervouralsk apologized to viewers in a statement posted on the social networking site VKontakte. It was reported that "the attackers gained access to the live broadcast and launched unauthorized video materials that are contrary to the policy of the TV channel".
It is another element of cyber warfare waged by both sides of the conflict since it began in February 2022. In early July, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine (HUR) claimed responsibility for cyberattacks on nearly 100 Russian websites supporting Kremlin activities, as well as on several Russian banks and financial institutions. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Monobank was the victim of a two-day DDoS attack at the beginning of this week.
In June 2022, Ukrainian hackers "hijacked" the morning news edition of Kommersant FM, the radio division of the newspaper "Kommersant". Listeners suddenly heard the Ukrainian song "Chervona Kalyna".
Alexei Vorobyov, the station's editor-in-chief, confirmed the attack on its servers. In May, three radio stations in St. Petersburg also played Ukrainian and anti-war songs for over two hours.
In July 2023, one of the Russian radio stations broadcast a false announcement about President Vladimir Putin's signing of a decree to end the "special military operation" in Ukraine. Of course, it quickly became clear that the information had nothing to do with reality.
In March 2023, Russian viewers saw warnings on their TV screens about a missile attack. The false messages urged people to go to shelters and take potassium iodide pills.
Source: "Rzeczpospolita"
