A large-scale cyberattack carried out by Ukrainian hackers against Russian energy giant Gazprom has reportedly caused significant disruptions and wiped out vast amounts of critical data.
The attack targeted Gazprom’s systems and those of its subsidiaries, which HUR (Ukraine’s military intelligence) claims are closely involved in supporting Russia’s ongoing war effort, Kyiv Independent reported on July 17.
Gazprom is Russia’s state-owned energy company, one of the world’s largest gas producers and exporters.
“The degradation of Russian information systems to the technological Middle Ages continues,” the source within HUR said to Kyiv Independent.
“We congratulate Russian ‘cyber specialists’ on this new achievement and recommend they gradually replace their mice and keyboards with hammers and pincers,” the source continued.
The cyberattack allegedly had a devastating effect on Gazprom’s internal operations, with reports indicating that access to internal systems was blocked for nearly 20,000 system administrators.
Backup copies of key databases were erased, and vital servers running essential software, such as 1C—which is used for managing documents, contracts, and critical operational data for pipelines—were destroyed.
The attackers reportedly disabled operating systems across numerous servers and damaged the BIOS (basic firmware) of various devices, rendering them inoperable without physical repairs. The strike reportedly affected around 390 Gazprom subsidiaries, including Gazprom Teplo Energo, Gazprom Obl Energo, and Gazprom Energozbyt.
The scale of the damage underscores the vulnerability of Russian critical infrastructure to cyberattacks. Although Ukraine’s military intelligence claims to have successfully infiltrated and crippled Russia’s energy sector, the full extent of the damage remains unclear. Gazprom and Russian authorities have not yet commented on the breach.
The attack on Gazprom is part of a broader effort by Ukraine to disrupt Russia’s economy and military operations through both traditional military means and innovative cyber tactics.
While the Ukrainian government has not confirmed its involvement, the HUR source described the cyberattack as a strategic blow aimed at disrupting Russia’s ability to maintain its grip on critical infrastructure.
The attack on Gazprom comes just as Ukraine continues to build its digital defense capabilities and targets Russian economic and military sectors via cyberspace.
Earlier, it was reported that European law enforcement agencies have uncovered and dismantled a pro-Russian hacker network responsible for attacking critical EU infrastructure.
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