by Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, was severely disrupted, leaving all of its subscribers without communications or internet access, prompting urgent inquiries into the nature and origin of the brazen attack.
Kyivstar suddenly stopped serving its subscribers on the morning of December 12 – mobile communications were down, internet access was unavailable, and the company’s website was not functional.
The issue was significant enough that government authorities held a meeting, said Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.
The problems with Kyivstar affected the services of third-party providers.
Also read: The Kyivstar network failure should be fixed today, says the minister
As of September 2023, Kyivstar served more than 24 million mobile communication subscribers and more than 1 million home internet subscribers. The company offers a range of services using various mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G, Big Data, Cloud Solutions, cyber security services, digital TV, and more.
In October, a court imposed a seizure on Kyivstar shares controlled by Russian-approved oligarchs Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven, and Andrey Kosogov. Kyivstar’s sole shareholder is the Dutch-registered VEON group. In late November, the Office of the President indicated a “high probability” of sanctions against Kyivstar and subsequent confiscation.
Kyivstar goes down
At first, Kyivstar was short on the story. This morning, the company reported a technical glitch that may affect communication and internet services for some subscribers.
“Company specialists are working to resolve the issue,” the official statement read.
Also read: Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins the board of Kyivstar
However, closer to noon, Kyivstar admitted a hacker attack.
“There was a powerful hacker attack on Kyivstar’s communication network, causing a technical failure that temporarily disrupted communication and internet services,” the company said in an official statement.
To document the circumstances and consequences of illegal interference of the Kyivstar network, the operator hired representatives of law enforcement and special state services, currently operating from the company’s office.
So far, according to the press release, subscribers’ personal data remains uncompromised. Operator experts are working to eliminate the consequences of the hack in order to quickly restore communication and service provision.
“Kyivstar will undoubtedly compensate subscribers who had no communication or could not use the operator’s services. We apologize to subscribers for the temporary inconvenience and appreciate your understanding,” the operator’s statement emphasized.
Why is national roaming inactive?
In March of the previous year, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation announced the creation of national roaming — allowing Ukrainian operators to switch between networks to maintain connectivity.
However, in the case of Kyivstar, it did not work. Why?
Stanislav Prybytko, Director of the Department of Mobile Communications Development at the Ministry of Digital Transformation, told NV Business that Kyivstar cannot transmit information about its subscribers to other operators due to a general technical failure. Therefore, the communication issue affected other services such as national roaming.
Also read: Fallout Kyivstar – National roaming is also affected, the Digital Ministry to meet all the mobile operators
“After we resolve the current issue, we will discuss with all mobile phone operators how to prevent similar situations and protect users from unexpected communication problems,” Prybytko said.
However, the national roaming service seems to work for other operators, such as Vodafone Ukraine, Victoria Ruban, Head of Public Relations at Vodafone Ukraine, told NV Business. Vodafone subscribers can register on another operator’s network, currently Lifecell only.
“Probably, the problem is not on our side. The service is available; everything is fine; it all works,” said Ruban.
Lifecell press service reported that “in the current situation, Kyivstar’s issue is not with the base stations but probably with the core of the network, so national roaming cannot function properly.”
The technical failure at the largest operator affected other services, such as PrivatBank. Some point of sale terminals, ATMs and self-service terminals may operate unstable or may have no connection.
“We are aware that the situation is difficult, and we do our best for clients to be confident in this situation. In the absence of mobile communication, clients can call support through Privat24 and also write in the online chat, for which only internet access is enough,” said the bank’s press service.
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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine
