Cyberattack downs Ukraine biggest state banks’, Defense Ministry websites
Ukrainians on social media reported on Feb. 15 that they could no longer access electronic banking services, withdraw money from ATMs, as well as perform other financial transactions.
The majority of issues were reported by clients of the biggest banks in the country, both state-owned - Privatbank and OschadBank, some of whom additionally noted that their account balances were being incorrect displayed.
“I nearly got a heart attack when I saw I had no money in my account,” NV’s journalist Kristina Berdynskykh wrote in a social media post.
PrivatBank assured clients that they are working to restore stable service, and stated that there is no threat to depositors’ funds. Bank representatives have replied to client inquiries on Facebook by explaining that “bank services are experiencing delays due to instability in communication channels.”
“Our specialists are doing everything possible to restore stable performance as soon as possible,” a PrivatBank client support representative said in a Facebook message on Feb. 15.
The Ukrainian government’s Center for Strategic Communications, or Stratcom, said in a statement that for the last few hours, PrivatBank has been under a massive DDoS attack.
“The cyberattack applies only to the Privat24 application. All other financial transactions are performing normally,” Stratcom said.
“Oschadbank is also experiencing failures, and (their) Internet banking is down.”
The websites of the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine were also attacked.
“It is possible that the aggressor resorted to the tactics of petty mischief, because by and large, his aggressive plans do not work,” Stratcom’s statement reads.
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