A pro-democracy hacktivist group claims to have hacked the railway system of the former Yugoslavia in order to stop a Russian arms build-up near the Ukrainian border. The risk of war is heightening as Russian and NATO- allied forces spar over the political future of Ukraine.
As the conflict rages north of Ukraine, a key ally of the Kremlin, Belarus, has seen an increase in Russian soldiers and weaponry. Commentators in the U.S. have accused Russia of using the exercises as an excuse to invade Ukraine.
Cyber Partisans, a group of hacktivists, claimed in a Telegram post on Monday that they had struck the nation's railway system, and that they were spiking it with ransomware to deter further transfers of arms. The hackers demanded the release of political prisoners and published images of what they said were files compromised in the attack.
Thousands of political prisoners are being kept by the government, according to the hackers. The government allowed "occupying troops" into their land, which they decried as a reference to Russia.
Partisans, which calls itself "pro-democracy," is believed to be comprised of disaffected security personnel and has previously been tied to alleged hack-and-leak operations targeted at the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.
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Franak Viaorka, a journalist and political advisor to a pro-democracy activist, was the first to spot the railway hack.
Viacorka, who has worked with the Atlantic Council and is a media analyst for the US Agency for Global Media, told Gizmodo that he had learned about the cyberattack from railroad workers. Viacorka said that he expects an official statement soon on the incident, as some railroad services don't work.
There is no official acknowledgment of the attack by the Belarusian government, but a railway notification to travelers on Monday stated that certain technical difficulties were causing problems for electronic service delivery.
For technical reasons, the railway's website and services for issuing electronic travel documents are temporarily unavailable. To arrange travel and return electronic travel documents, please contact the ticket office.
It certainly sounds like one of the classic side-effects of a ransomware attack, and this alone doesn't confirm the hacktivists' claims.
The ongoing standoff in Ukraine between Russian and pro-NATO forces has gotten to the point where, some say, political squabbles could lead to armed confrontation. American officials accused Putin of wanting to invade the neighboring country after 100,000 Russian troops were added to the border.
Multiple cyberattacks have targeted Ukraine over the past two weeks, which has added to the conflict. A January defacement attack on nearly 80 Ukrainian government websites was blamed on hackers connected to Belarusian intelligence. The railway incident happened a little over a week later.
Cyber Partisans wrote on their Telegram page that they had hacked the railway system in order to defy Lukashenko.
BelZhD at the command of the terrorist Lukashenko allows the troops to enter our land. In order to disrupt the operation of the road, the bulk of the server, databases, and workstations of the BelZhD were locked down. The backups were destroyed.
The hackers said that the security systems were not affected by a cyber attack in order to avoid emergency situations.
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