The actual impact of the hack, and the computer systems compromised, is unclear. There are no reports of outages caused by the incident. DTEK did not respond to requests for comment. The hacking incident came to light days after Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man and owner of DTEK, sued Russia at the European Court of Human Rights for allegedly costing Akhmetov billions of dollars in property rights compensation. A Russian-speaking hacker group known as XakNet claimed to have breached DTEK’s networks this week and posted screenshots on the Telegram app of purported DTEK data as proof. The hacking group emerged in March, according to an advisory to the US government and its allies, and claimed to have targeted Ukrainian officials to support Russia’s war effort. XakNet accessed data belonging to an organization that was likely hacked by a Russian cyber espionage group, suggesting a possible link between XakNet and the Russian government, said Alden Wahlstrom, a senior analyst at U.S. cybersecurity firm Mandiant, which has investigate some of XakNet. activity. On its Telegram channel, XakNet mocked and denied the suggestion that it was working with the Russian government. CNN has reached out to the Russian embassy in Washington for comment. The hacking incident coincided with Russian bombing this week of a thermal power plant owned by DTEK in Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine, according to DTEK, whose websites say it employs 56,000 people. Microsoft in an April report argued that Russian hacking has sometimes been used alongside mobile military attacks. A cyber attack hit a Ukrainian broadcasting company on March 1, the same day as Russian missiles hit a TV tower in Kyiv, the report said. Ukrainian energy providers have been a constant target of Russian hacking groups since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. The Justice Department blamed Russian military intelligence for cyberattacks on utilities in 2015 and 2016 that knocked out power in parts of Ukraine. The same Russian hacker group in April reportedly targeted electrical equipment in an area serving 2 million people in Ukraine, but Ukrainian officials claimed the intrusion was prevented.” The company is making every effort to ensure the stable operation of Ukraine’s energy system during the war and ensure uninterrupted power supply to Ukrainian consumers,” DTEK said in a statement on Friday.
