Belarusian Hackers Strike KGB. A Bold Move for Transparency and Justice
6:04 PM EDT, April 27, 2024
On Friday, a Belarusian group known as the Cyberpartisans announced that they had infiltrated the local KGB website. The hackers disclosed that they had stolen the data of over 8,600 employees and published a list of the website's KGB administrators online.
Yuliana Shametavets, a representative of the group, spoke to the AP agency, stating that the cyber-attack was motivated by KGB chief Ivan Tertel's accusations against the activists, alleging their involvement in planning attacks on critical infrastructure.
The KGB is carrying out the largest political repressions in the history of the country and must answer for it. We work to save the lives of Belarusians, and not to destroy them, like the repressive Belarusian special services do - the activist expressed.
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Shametavets confirmed that the hackers gained access to the KGB's website several years prior and have continued their cyber-attacks since, successfully downloading the personal files of over 8,600 officers.
In response to the data breach, a chatbot was developed to identify KGB employees through submitted photographs, an innovative tool to uncover the identities behind the repressive force. The details regarding the KGB's website administrators were shared on the messaging platform Telegram.
- We want to show that in the digital world it is impossible to hide information, and the truth about political repressions will surface, and those who carried them out will be punished, - Shametavets remarked, announcing the plan to persist with their cyber-assaults.
This isn't the first cyber operation against Belarusian authorities
Recalling an incident two months prior, the Independent Radio Svaboda reported the temporary shutdown of the KGB's website, an act now claimed by the Cyberpartisans.
Radio Svaboda describes the group as a "decentralized community" of hackers. The group emerged in September 2020 amidst political unrest. It was founded in reaction to the suppression of political protest participants and has targeted the online platforms of Belarusian state institutions and law enforcement agencies since its inception.
