Russian satellite telecom confirms hacker attack

Updated on: 03 July 2023

Vilius Petkauskas
Deputy Editor

Dozor-Teleport, a Russian satellite communications provider used by the country’s Ministry of Defense and security services, confirmed that hackers breached its systems.

“Dozor-Teleport confirms a cyberattack on the company’s systems. According to preliminary data, the infrastructure on the side of the cloud provider was compromised,” head of the company Alexander Anosov said.

According to local media reports, Dozor is part of Amtel Group, partly owned by Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy corporation. All Amtel companies use the cloud provider Selectel, which was breached by hackers targeting Dozor.

Last week, attackers claiming to be aligned the private military corporation (PMC) Wagner targeted the satellite communication provider’s infrastructure, damaging user terminals. Earlier this week, researchers discovered a ransomware strain called Wagner that infects user devices and invites them to join the PMC Wagner.

The attack on Russian satellite infrastructure is not the first time that hackers have focused their eyes skyward. Last year, pro-Ukrainian hackers said they penetrated Gonets, a Russian low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications network, deleting a database that was crucial to its functioning.

Meanwhile, NB65, a group of hackers affiliated with Anonymous, said that they disrupted Russia’s vehicle monitoring system by targeting Roscosmos, the Russian space agency.