Cyber attack in Belarus: Telegram bot to deanonymize KGB employees

According to a group of hacktivists, they have succeeded in infiltrating the Belarusian state secret service and accessing the personnel files of more than 8,600 employees. The authorities of the authoritarian state have not yet commented on the allegation, but the KGB website is largely inaccessible. The homepage merely states that the portal is "under development". According to the "Cyber Partisans" ("кіберпартызаны" in Belarusian), the site has been down for two months. The group allegedly managed to infiltrate the site back in the fall and access "all available information". Databases are made public as proof.

Cyber attack prepared for years

The publication of a list of website administrators, the entire database and server logs was a response to the KGB chief's accusation that the "cyber partisans" were planning attacks on the country's critical infrastructure. A spokeswoman of sorts for the group told the AP. The intelligence chief had previously claimed that the hacktivists would even target nuclear power plants. "The KGB is carrying out the most extensive repression in the country's history and must answer for it", the news agency quoted Yuliana Shametavets as saying. She went on to say: "We are committed to protecting the lives of people in Belarus, not destroying them like the repressive security services."

According to Shametavets, the group managed to penetrate the network of the secret service, which was not renamed after the end of the Soviet Union, years ago. Since then, attempts have been made to capture the database. Having succeeded in doing so, the group has now set up a Telegram bot that people from Belarus can use to identify secret service employees. All they have to do is upload photos for facial recognition. The spokesperson announced that things would get worse and worse for the regime if the repression was not stopped. The attacks would continue and cause maximum damage to the regime.

The "cyber partisans" came together in the wake of the later bloodily suppressed protests against Alexander Lukashenko's regime following the controversial elections in August 2020. Since their formation, they have attracted attention with several hacks, including of security authorities. With their coordinated attacks, they want to "end the violence and repression of the terrorist regime in Belarus and return the country to democratic principles and the rule of law". Shortly before the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, the group carried out a cyberattack on the Belarusian railroad company in order, among other things, to impede the transportation of Russian weapons and troops through the country.

(mho)