Energoatom, a nuclear operator in Ukraine, disclosed on its website on Tuesday what it called a “unprecedented” cyberattack, but claimed that none of its activities had been affected.
The operator posted on Telegram that the website of Energoatom was the target of the most significant hack since the beginning of the Russian invasion on August 16, 2022.
The attack originated “from Russian territory.”
According to Energoatom, the Russian “popular cyberarmy” organisation attacked the website for three hours using more than 7 million internet bots.
The attack, however, “did not have a significant impact on the work of the Energoatom website.”
Around noon, a Russian Telegram channel with the name “popular cyberarmy” urged its users to assault the website of the Ukrainian nuclear operator.
However, by Tuesday night, it had declared a “change” of course, directing supporters to a new target — website of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance.
The cyberattack occurs as resentment over the country’s southern Zaporizhzhia power facility, which Russian forces took control of in March just after invading its pro-EU neighbour, is rising.
The largest nuclear facility in Europe has been shelled, according to accusations from Russia and Ukraine, raising concerns about a nuclear accident.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, Ukraine relied on four nuclear power plants to provide it with almost half of its electrical needs.
When reactor number four at the Chernobyl power plant erupted in 1986, Ukraine was the scene of the biggest nuclear accident in history.
The last reactor to shut off at the power plant, which had three others, did so in 2000.
On the first day of the invasion, Russian troops took control of the Chernobyl nuclear power facility, holding onto it and a highly toxic exclusion zone surrounding the complex for several weeks.
