Major Russian state services disrupted, reportedly due to cyberattack

Access to several major Russian state services was disrupted on Tuesday, reportedly due to a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack “originating from abroad.”

As of the time of writing, outage monitoring site Downdetector showed ongoing disruptions to Russia's tax service (FNS), as well as services for managing secure digital keys (Goskey) and documents (Saby), among others.

Saby and FNS confirmed that the outages were caused by a large-scale DDoS attack from abroad and said they are working to restore access to their systems.

Russian businesses also reported being unable to access a government service that controls the distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages, as well as the system that tracks the production of certain goods to prevent counterfeiting.

Last week, another major outage affected Russian banking apps, the social network VKontakte, messaging services, Yandex platforms and mobile networks. The St. Petersburg-based telecom company Severen-Telecom reported a DDoS attack on its servers. Russia's telecommunications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, confirmed issues with Russian internet services last week but has not commented on what caused the disruptions.

No hacker group has claimed responsibility for the latest alleged DDoS attacks on Russia. Similar attacks on the affected services have previously been conducted by Ukraine-linked hacktivists, including the IT Army.

Last week, a Russian private hospital experienced a multi-day disruption likely linked to a cyberattack claimed by another pro-Ukraine hacker group, 4B1D. Although the hospital has not disclosed specifics about the incident, local authorities confirmed that the attackers targeted software used to manage patient records and medical histories.

The Moscow health department on Tuesday reported a "temporary malfunction" in their systems, preventing some residents from accessing their medical records. The agency has not attributed the disruptions to a cyberattack.

Some of the cyberattacks conducted during the Ukraine-Russia cyberwar often coincide with or follow important political events. The latest disruptions in the country occurred shortly after U.S. President Donald Trump held a two-hour phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the potential for a ceasefire and peace deal in Ukraine. It is unclear whether it was intentional or a coincidence.