Ukrainian state and banking services restored after data center outage

Ukrainian cloud provider De Novo said it had restored services after a power outage disrupted operations for customers including government agencies and major companies over the weekend.

The outage, caused by a power failure at De Novo’s data center, temporarily knocked offline services including Ukraine’s Diia government app, local banks, postal delivery giant Nova Post and contactless payment systems such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Several Kyiv residents told Recorded Future News they were unable to use mobile payments to access the city’s metro during the disruption. Some restaurants also experienced issues with electronic payment systems. It took De Novo nearly six hours to restore services for its clients.

The company’s CEO Maksym Ahieiev attributed the outage to an "unexpected malfunction" in the automatic power switching system, which prevented backup batteries and diesel generators from activating, leaving the facility without power for approximately 15 minutes. He dismissed the possibility of a cyberattack, adding that the company was still investigating the cause of the malfunction.

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine three years ago, the country has become increasingly dependent on cloud technologies, with many Ukrainian businesses — particularly those in critical infrastructure, banking, media and government sectors — moving their data to the cloud to safeguard it from potential physical destruction, such as missile strikes. 

To ensure swift recovery in the event of both digital and physical attacks, many businesses and government services, including the Diia platform, rely on multiple cloud providers.

In a separate incident earlier this year, Ukrainian data center Parkovy, which serves several state-owned entities, was hit by a cyberattack that disrupted operations for clients including the national postal service, the country’s railway system and a major energy company. The suspected threat actor behind the attack was linked to Russia.

On Monday, Ukraine's largest home improvement retailer Epicentr, also reported a technical failure affecting its cash registers and mobile app. It remains unclear whether the disruption is related to the recent outage at De Novo.