Leading mobile provider in Ukraine, Kyivstar, announced that it had reached its development limit and had set aside $90 million to address a possible Russian hack on its networks.
The attack, which damaged infrastructure and interfered with millions of Ukrainians’ mobile phone signals, was reported by the company’s CEO as the largest cyberattack on telecom infrastructure worldwide. It happened to Kyivstar in December.
Prior to the cyberattack, in 2023, we were increasing by 11% to 12% per quarter. About 3% of yearly growth was lost due to the cyberattack, CEO Oleksandr Komarov told the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
He didn’t elaborate on the specific area of expansion that was being discussed. A request for comment was not immediately answered by Kyivstar.
According to Komarov, the cell provider set aside 3.6 billion hryvnia, or $90.76 million, to handle the attack’s consequences.
It was used to reinforce the infrastructure, fix damage, and finance a customer loyalty program.
Owned by Veon, a mobile telecoms provider listed in Amsterdam, Kyivstar has over 1.1 million home internet users in addition to 24.3 million mobile subscribers.
The head of cyber intelligence in Kiev at the time, Sandworm, was a Russian military intelligence cyberwarfare organization, and he was certain that Sandworm was responsible for the attack.
The group that Ukraine believes to be connected to Sandworm, Solntsepyok, took credit for the incident. On the attack, Russia has not made any comments.
