Russian sabotage attacks surged across Europe in 2024
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Reuters
2 minutes ago
- Reuters
Pro-Ukrainian hackers claim massive cyberattack on Russia's Aeroflot
MOSCOW, July 28 (Reuters) - Russian national flag carrier Aeroflot ( opens new tab was forced to cancel dozens of flights on Monday, disrupting travel across the world's biggest country, as two pro-Ukraine hacking groups claimed to have inflicted a crippling cyberattack. The Kremlin said the situation was worrying, and lawmakers called it a wake-up call for Russia. Prosecutors confirmed the disruption was caused by a hack and opened a criminal investigation. Senior lawmaker Anton Gorelkin said Russia was under digital attack. "We must not forget that the war against our country is being waged on all fronts, including the digital one. And I do not rule out that the 'hacktivists' who claimed responsibility for the incident are in the service of unfriendly states," Gorelkin said in a statement. Another member of parliament, Anton Nemkin, said investigators must identify not only the attackers but "those who allowed systemic failures in protection". Aeroflot did not say how long the problems would take to resolve, but departure boards at Moscow's Sheremetyevo Airport turned red as flights were cancelled at a time when many Russians take their holidays. The company's shares were down by 3.9% by 1300 GMT, underperforming the wider market, which was 1.4% lower. A statement purporting to be from a hacking group called Silent Crow said it had carried out the operation together with Belarusian Cyberpartisans, a self-styled hacktivist group that opposes president Alexander Lukashenko and says it wants to liberate Belarus from dictatorship. "Glory to Ukraine! Long live Belarus!" said the statement in the name of Silent Crow. Belarusian Cyberpartisans said on its website: "We are helping Ukrainians in their fight with the occupier, carrying out a cyber strike on Aeroflot and paralysing the largest airline in Russia." There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Silent Crow has previously claimed responsibility for attacks this year on a Russian real estate database, a state telecoms company, a large insurance firm, the Moscow government's IT department and the Russian office of South Korean carmaker KIA. Some of those resulted in big data leaks. "The information that we are reading in the public domain is quite alarming. The hacker threat is a threat that remains for all large companies providing services to the population," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Aeroflot said it had cancelled more than 40 flights - mostly within Russia but also including routes to the Belarusian capital Minsk and the Armenian capital Yerevan - after reporting a failure in its information systems. An online departure board for Sheremetyevo airport showed dozens of others were delayed. "Specialists are currently working to minimise the impact on the flight schedule and to restore normal service operations," Aeroflot said. The statements from Silent Crow and Belarusian Cyberpartisans said the cyberattack was the result of a year-long operation which had deeply penetrated Aeroflot's network, destroyed 7,000 servers and gained control over the personal computers of employees, including senior managers. They published screenshots of file directories purportedly from inside Aeroflot's network and threatened to soon start releasing "the personal data of all Russians who have ever flown Aeroflot", as well as intercepted conversations and emails of Aeroflot staff. Since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022, travellers in Russia have become used to flight disruptions, usually caused by temporary airport closures during drone attacks. Russian companies and government websites have been subjected to sporadic hacking attacks, but Monday's was potentially the most damaging, because of the widespread disruption and the high profile of Aeroflot. Former Aeroflot pilot and aviation expert Andrei Litvinov told Reuters: "This is a serious disaster. Okay, flight delays - you can survive that. But these are losses, huge losses for a state-owned company." He added: "If all the correspondence, all the corporate data is exposed - this can have very long-term consequences ... First the drones, and now they are blowing up this situation from the inside." Passengers vented their anger on social network VK, complaining about a lack of clear information from the airline. Malena Ashi wrote: "I've been sitting at Volgograd airport since 3:30!!!!! The flight has been rescheduled for the third time!!!!!! This time it was rescheduled for approximately 14:50, and it was supposed to depart at 5:00!!!" Another woman, Yulia Pakhota, posted: "The call centre is unavailable, the website is unavailable, the app is unavailable. "How can I return a ticket or exchange it for the next flight, as Aeroflot suggests?" Aeroflot said affected passengers could get a refund or rebook as soon as its systems were back and it was trying to get some passengers seats on other airlines. Despite Western sanctions on Russia that have drastically limited travel and routes, Aeroflot remains among the top 20 airlines worldwide by passenger numbers, which last year hit 55.3 million people, according to its website.
Daily Mirror
4 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Chancellor Rachel Reeves dismisses Donald Trump's 'con job' wind turbine claim
Chancellor Rachel Reeves insisted on Monday building solar farms was essential to create 'homegrown energy' in the UK - stopping reliance on imports from Putin's Russia Rachel Reeves has dismissed Donald Trump' s claim that wind turbines are a "con job" - as the US President said they ruin the view from his golf courses. The Chancellor insisted on Monday that building solar farms was essential to create "homegrown energy" in the UK - stopping reliance on imports from Putin's Russia. She said "never again can we have the boot of Putin on our neck, which was the experience after Russia invaded Ukraine and energy bills went through the roof". It came as Mr Trump, who is visiting his golf courses in Scotland this week, launched into a rant about the use of windmills - saying he will not allow them to be built in the US. The US President said: "They are killing the beauty of our scenery, our valleys, our beautiful plains... you look up and you see windmills all over the place, it's a horrible thing. "It's the most expensive form of energy, it's no good." He added: 'The whole thing is a con job. It's very expensive... but more important than that is it ruins the landscape, it kills the birds, they are noisy. "Today I'm playing I think the best [golf] course in the world, Turnberry... and I look over the horizon and I see nine windmills, I said 'isn't that a shame, what a shame'". But asked by LBC about the comments, the Chancellor Ms Reeves said on Monday: "We've seen from the last few years and Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine that we've got to build our own homegrown energy infrastructure here in Britain. "That includes solar farms, it includes onshore and offshore wind, because never again can we have the boot of Putin on our neck, which was the experience after Russia invaded Ukraine and energy bills went through the roof. "That is still having an impact on the cost of living, and investment in clean, homegrown energy, boosts our security, brings jobs to Britain and ultimately brings down bills for working people, and that's the policies that we are pursuing as a government. The US President has previously rallied against the use of wind turbines close to his golf course. Just last week he told European countries to "stop the windmills". Over the weekend Mr Trump was seen on his Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire, being transported between holes in a motorcade of 26 golf carts and one small secret service vehicle. His son Eric was with him on the course.
South Wales Argus
21 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
Trump to cut 50-day Ukraine ceasefire deadline as Russian strikes continue
The US president said he was 'very disappointed' with Vladimir Putin, criticising the Russian president's decision to continue air strikes against civilian targets in Ukraine. Speaking alongside the Prime Minister outside his hotel in Turnberry, South Ayrshire, Mr Trump said: 'We thought we had it settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever. 'You have bodies lying all over the street, and I say that's not the way to do it. So we'll see what happens with that.' Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and US President Donald Trump in South Ayrshire (Chris Furlong/PA) Earlier this month, Mr Trump threatened to impose 'very severe' tariffs on Russia if Mr Putin did not agree a ceasefire within 50 days, with the deadline due to expire on September 2. But on Monday, he said he would 'reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number', adding: 'I think I already know the answer, what's going to happen.' Efforts to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine are expected to feature on the agenda for Sir Keir's meeting with Mr Trump on Monday, along with the situation in Gaza and progress on implementing the UK-US trade deal. Last week, Downing Street said both men were 'set to talk about their shared desire to bring an end to the barbaric war' and 'reflect on progress in their 50-day drive to arm Ukraine and force Putin to the negotiating table'. Meanwhile, the conflict in Ukraine continues, with Russian drone and missile strikes hitting the country's north-eastern Sumy region on Sunday, wounding four people. Russian officials also claimed to have shot down 150 Ukrainian drones, with one person killed and three others injured near St Petersburg.
