Category
Latest news

Major Cyberattack Disrupts Russian Railways' Digital Services

2 min read
Authors
Ivan_khomenko
Ivan Khomenko
AUTHOR
Major Cyberattack Disrupts Russian Railways' Digital Services
Russian Railways employees stand beside a Siemens-built “Sapsan” high-speed train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg, at a station platform. (Source: Getty Images)

On April 1, Russian Railways (RZD), the state-owned railway operator, reported a large-scale cyberattack that disrupted its website and mobile application.

According to an official statement on April 1, both platforms were targeted by a massive DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attack, rendering them temporarily unavailable. The company stated that ticket offices at stations and terminals continue to operate as usual.

As of 12:26 PM local time, the RZD website remained inaccessible, with users encountering a 504 error. According to data from Downdetector, over 1,200 complaints were registered within the hour, mostly related to the website and mobile app malfunction.

The latest disruption follows a similar pattern observed in previous incidents. On July 5, 2024, RZD experienced a comparable cyberattack, with services being restored within a few hours.

The situation coincides with technical issues reported a day earlier, on March 31, involving the website and mobile application of the Moscow Metro.

During the outage, a message appeared on the Metro’s website referencing Ukrainian Railways (Ukrzaliznytsia), which had recently undergone a targeted cyberattack. The Moscow Department of Transport attributed the issue to technical maintenance.

Earlier, on March 23, Ukrzaliznytsia experienced a disruption in its IT infrastructure, which temporarily suspended online services, including ticket sales.

The following day, the company confirmed a large-scale cyberattack allegedly orchestrated by Russia. As a response, ticket counters at key stations, particularly in Kyiv, increased their capacity to manage demand.

By March 27, Ukrzaliznytsia reported that ticket purchasing services had been restored through its app and website. However, users continued to experience technical issues due to high system load.

On March 28, the company acknowledged the ongoing disruptions and announced the opening of additional ticket counters. Two days later, on March 29, Ukrzaliznytsia confirmed stable operation of its online services following a platform migration.

See all