Ukraine Hackers Replace Russian TV Broadcast with Videos About the War

The Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR) hacked into several television channels in Russia and broadcasted videos about the war in Ukraine, according to The Kyiv Independent.

The cyberattacks have intensified substantially since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. One of the goals of the Ukrainian side was to somehow make the Russian population aware of what’s happening. Moreover, they have the support of numerous hackers from around the world.

In this case, the hacking didn’t originate from volunteers, like a few weeks ago when Cyber Anarchy Squad, a Ukrainian hacking group, hit Russian cybersecurity company Avapost.

According to a report from The Kyiv Independent, GUR compromised a number of servers belonging to Russian television channels and replaced the regular broadcast with videos about the war in Ukraine. Some of the affected TV channels included Pervouralsk TV, Eurasia 360, and Eurasia Pervyi Kanalm which are considered prime television.

Other affected TV stations include Lugansk 24, Pervyi Respublikanskyi, SpB, Oplot, TV-3, and Pervyi Rosiyskyi. All the affected channels had to suspend the broadcast, with a few managing to recover quickly, such as Eurasia 360 and TV-3.

This is not the first time when TV stations have been directly targeted, and Russia has been doing the same. For example, Russian hackers compromised the TV transmission in Latvia and replaced the official program with Russian Victory Day images.

Cyberattacks have become an integral part of the conflict, whether in DDoS attacks against websites or taking down telecom companies to compromise communications on the battlefield.