Rosstat confirms cyberattacks on Russian statistics agency; two groups say they stole data

Russia's Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported on November 1 that its IT resources suffered “targeted destructive cyberattacks” between October 29 and November 1, according to the Interfax news agency. Rosstat said its infrastructure operated normally, that the suspicious activity was detected in time and that no database had been compromised and no legally protected information had been leaked.

External access to Rosstat's official website was down and will be restored “shortly”, according to the agency as cited by Interfax. Security specialists, together with law enforcement, are investigating how the attackers got in and who is behind the attack, according to Rosstat.

Two groups claim the attack, according to Brandefense, which draws on reporting by Kommersant and RBC. The Belarusian Cyber Partisans say they wiped databases, servers and internal systems and took more than 10 terabytes; Silent Crow says it controlled some 25,000 machines and extracted some 23 terabytes. Kommersant saw messages bearing both groups' logos on federal and regional Rosstat pages, according to Brandefense.

Neither the wiping nor the volume or content of the stolen data has been independently verified, and Rosstat's denial that any leak occurred has not been audited either, according to Brandefense. The groups have said they will publish part of the data.