Hackers in Belarus have arrogate they launched a ransomware attack against the Department of State railway company ’s computer systems to interrupt the move of Russian military violence .
On Monday January 24 , theBelarusian Cyber - Partisanstweeted : “ At the command of the terrorist Lukashenka , # Belarusian Railway give up the occupying troop to enter our realm . We encrypted some of BR ’s servers , databases , and workstations to disrupt its operation . "
They later on impart that they have encoding key and are quick to return Belarusian Railroad ’s system to normal , on the consideration that President Alexander Lukashenko loose 50 political captive who are in need of medical assistance and prevents Russian troops from entering Belarusian territorial dominion .
The cyberattack , if the reports are right , could be a first of its kind . Typically , ransomware attack are carried out with money on the mind . hacker will snap into a information processing system internet and threaten to leak , disrupt , or delete informationunless a financial ransomis paid . In this situation , however , non - state actors appear to have used ransomware with purely political motivation .
Belarusian Cyber - Partisanstweeted outa number of images showing inner documents and bank information of the Belarusian Railway , as if to prove the onset took place . However , it ’s still too early to full verify the consequence and it ’s unclear whether it had a significant impact on the country ’s infrastructure . A voice for the Belarusian Cyber - Partisans group toldReutersthe cyberattack intended to prevent the trend of freight trains carrying Russian troops , but that it was too early to say whether it was a success . Ars Technicanoted that several service on the railroad ’s internet site , let in ticket buying , were unavailable for so - scream “ technical reasons . ”
Unless you ’ve been living in a nuclear bunker for the past calendar month , which perhaps is n’t the stupidest musical theme , you ’ll know this comes on the back of heated tensions along the Russia - Ukraine boundary line . In recent hebdomad , Russia has place more than 100,000 troopsalong its edge with Ukraineand attempted to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO , stir suspiciousness they ’re preparing to establish an intrusion . In response , NATO has reinforced troops in easterly Europe and the US hasplaced thousands of soldierson compound alerting to deploy in case engagement breaks out .
Russia has a close , albeit sometimes strain , family relationship with the former Soviet republic of Belarus , which portion out a large moulding with Ukraine . The Washington Postreports that a substantial numeral of Russian soldiers and military equipment have recently get in Belarus . Russia claims they are there as a joint military exercise planned for next month , but the US and other NATO member fear the troops have been placed to get a foothold to the Frederick North of Ukraine .
The place is currently on tenterhook , to put it mildly , but it looks sealed to be a jolting few months for the Russia - Ukraine border and beyond .