On the eve of the competition to select a manager for the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman (IDS Ukraine), the servers of the Asset Management and Tracing Agency (ARMA) were subjected to unauthorized interference. The agency's leadership claims a coordinated hacker attack and attempts to disrupt the procedure.
On the eve of the competition to select a manager for the assets of sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman (IDS Ukraine), the servers of the Asset Management and Tracing Agency (ARMA) were subjected to unauthorized interference. The agency's leadership claims a coordinated hacker attack and attempts to disrupt the procedure.
According to the acting head of the Agency Yaroslava Maksymenko, experts have been recording signs of illegal interference in the work of the systems since the spring - in particular, unauthorized access to the Register of Officials was detected. Currently, the circumstances of the cyberattack are being investigated by the SBU, and the broader proceedings regarding interference in the work of the Agency are being conducted by the NABU. Maksymenko emphasized that the agency sees “alarming synchronicity” between attempts to hack servers and the activation of information campaigns in the media.
"Each of these episodes separately may have its own explanation. But their combination and synchronicity raise a question that the investigation must answer: are we not dealing with a coordinated campaign aimed at paralyzing the work of the Agency, creating artificial pressure and attempting to disrupt the competition," the head of the department said, adding that individuals serving the interests of Russian capital in Ukraine may be involved. Despite technical problems, the application process will end on August 22, as planned.
According to RBC-Ukraine, the IDS Ukraine group of companies categorically rejected any hints of involvement in cyber incidents. They called the accusations of ARMA officials groundless and noted that such statements should be based solely on the results of law enforcement investigations, and not on assumptions. The company also expressed surprise at the Agency's initiation of an audit of their financial indicators immediately before the end of the competition, but confirmed its readiness to cooperate with auditors.
