A Belarusian group of hackers says it has slowed Russia’s movement to Ukraine.
Cyber partisans have been fighting the Belarussian regime for a long time. Adobe Stock / AOP
The Belarusian hacker group Cyber Partisans has paralyzed rail traffic in Belarus, Bloomberg news. The group is said to have been able to infiltrate planes controlling the Belarusian railways. According to hackers, some railway lines have been completely out of order, which has made it difficult for Russia to move forward.
Cyber partisans said on Sunday they had caused trains to stop in the cities of Minsk, Orsha and Osipovich after they had been able to infiltrate the routing and switching equipment of the railway system.
Bloomgerg says the hacking group’s claim is hard to confirm, but several sites linked to the Belarusian rail network have reported errors on Sunday.
The Telegram, run by a former Belarusian railway worker, has also reported that train systems have been “paralyzed” in Minsk and Orsha. Former employee of the Belarusian Railway Company Sergei Voitehowich has also published an article in a forum for railway workers alleging that hackers have damaged control systems.
Voitehowich said control systems were restored after the cyber attack, but other systems have still been down. For example, he said, it has been impossible to buy tickets and “trains have been very difficult to get around”.
Cyber partisans have said their goal is to slow down the transfer of Russian troops from Belarus to northern Ukraine and give Ukraine more time to repel Russian attacks.
Cyber partisans have been working against the Belarussian government for a long time. According to Bloomberg, the hacking group leaked a database last year containing secret information from police archives and government officials and spies, as well as video footage from detention centers and recordings of calls from the government’s wiretapping system.
The war in Ukraine has led a group of hackers to now focus on disrupting Russian military movements in Belarus.
The importance of cyber warfare has been emphasized since Russia invaded Ukraine. In particular, the hacker collective Anonymous has been on display, which has crashed several important administrative sites in Russia.