Kyivstar, Ukraine’s leading mobile operator, has allocated $90 million to address a suspected Russian cyberattack that severely impacted its services.
This attack, described by CEO Oleksandr Komarov as the largest cyberattack on telecom infrastructure globally, occurred in December, causing significant damage and disrupting mobile signals for millions of Ukrainians, Reuters news report said.
“Before the cyberattack, we were experiencing a quarterly growth rate of 11 percent-12 percent in 2023. The cyberattack reduced our annual growth by approximately 3 percent,” Komarov told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency. However, he did not specify which aspects of growth were affected. Kyivstar did not immediately respond to a request for further comments.
Kyivstar will use 3.6 billion hryvnia or $90.76 million for infrastructure repairs, system enhancements, and a loyalty program for customers.
Kyivstar, a subsidiary of Amsterdam-listed Veon, serves 24.3 million mobile subscribers and over 1.1 million home internet subscribers.
At the time of the attack, Kyiv’s cyber spy chief expressed confidence that the attack was orchestrated by Sandworm, a Russian military intelligence cyberwarfare unit. Solntsepyok, a group believed to be linked to Sandworm, claimed responsibility for the cyberattack. Russia has not commented on these allegations.
