Ukrainian cyber specialists attack Russian space hydrometeorology centre

Kyiv, Ukraine (Svidomi) — Ukrainian hackers from the BO Team group have destroyed the Far Eastern Research Centre for Space Hydrometeorology "Planeta" database, according to the Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

The Planeta Centre receives and processes data from satellites. The centre provides this data to more than 50 Russian government agencies, including the Ministry of Defence, the General Staff, and rescue services. 

The hackers broke into the centre's database and destroyed 280 servers used in the shared network. They destroyed about 2 petabytes (200 million gigabytes — ed.) of data.

The destroyed data includes meteorological and satellite data used by the Russian Ministry of Defence and Rescue Services, as well as Roscosmos. The hackers also destroyed unique Russian research.

The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine reports that the work of the "supercomputers" used in the Far Eastern centre is paralysed and cannot be fully restored.

"One such computing device, together with the software, costs $350,000. Given the tough sanctions against Russia, it is virtually impossible to obtain such software again," the DIU said.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Russian hackers have been constantly attacking Ukrainian banks, mobile networks and other infrastructure.  For example, Monobank, the largest online bank in Ukraine, is one of the country's most frequently attacked IT targets. DDoS attacks against it continue non-stop. Millions of Ukrainians have been left without mobile communications due to a large-scale Russian attack on Kyivstar, the country's largest mobile operator. Ukrainian hackers are launching retaliatory attacks.