Threat Intelligence · Incident Response
Hackers claim to steal 23TB of data from Russian statistics agency
Hackers say they stole 23TB of data from Russia's statistics service, including sensitive war casualty figures. The agency admits cyberattacks but denies any data leak.
Ross GrantUpdated 2 min read
The short version
Hackers say they broke into Russia's main statistics agency and stole 23 terabytes of data, including secret figures about the war in Ukraine. The agency admits it was attacked but says no sensitive data was leaked. The hackers have posted charts and details they claim came from the stolen files. It's not yet clear how much information was really taken or how accurate the leaked data is.
By the numbers
- 23TBclaimed data stolen by hackersTom's Hardware
- 1,584,910alleged Russian military casualties in leaked dataTechRadar
- 587,409alleged Russian drone losses in leaked dataTechRadar
What happened?
Hackers claim to have stolen 23TB of data from the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), including sensitive figures on Ukraine war casualties. Rosstat confirmed it suffered coordinated cyberattacks between 29 and 31 October but denies any data was leaked. The attack reportedly affected core IT systems and databases. The true extent of the breach is still under investigation.
Who is affected
The Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), which is similar to the Office for National Statistics in the UK, confirmed its servers were targeted by coordinated cyberattacks between 29 and 31 October. The agency oversees national statistics, including population, economic, and mortality data. The attack reportedly affected the central office, regional units, and the Main Interregional Center for the Processing and Dissemination of Statistical Information [Tom's Hardware (opens in a new tab)][TechRadar (opens in a new tab)].
What was taken
Hackers from groups including Belarusian CyberPartisans and Silent Crow claim to have stolen 23 terabytes (TB) of data. They say this includes internal databases, document management systems, and sensitive information marked “for official use only.” Most notably, the attackers claim to have obtained figures on Russian military casualties in Ukraine and losses of military equipment such as drones. The groups have published charts and breakdowns they say are based on the stolen data, including monthly casualty numbers and equipment losses. Rosstat, however, denies that any data was leaked or that protected information was compromised.
How the attack worked
According to the attackers, they gained access to a large part of Rosstat’s IT infrastructure. This included domain controllers (which manage user access across networks), databases, servers, virtualisation platforms like VMware ESXi, and internal systems for document workflow and employee surveillance. The hackers claim to have wiped or destroyed several core systems, including those used for demography, statistics, and internal administration. Rosstat says its monitoring systems detected the attack quickly, allowing it to start incident response procedures, but it has not confirmed the extent of the compromise.
The response
Rosstat publicly confirmed the cyberattacks and said that law enforcement and information security specialists are investigating. The agency insists that its infrastructure continued to operate normally and that no protected data was leaked. It also says that monitoring systems alerted staff to suspicious activity, which helped limit the impact. The casualty figures published by the attackers have not been verified by Russian authorities, and the true scale of the breach remains unclear. Both Rosstat and outside experts are still working to determine exactly what was accessed or stolen [TechRadar (opens in a new tab)].
Claimed vs confirmed
- Unconfirmed
Hackers stole 23TB of data, including war casualty figures.
Hackers claim to have stolen 23TB of data, but Rosstat denies any data leak.
- Unconfirmed
The breach revealed over 1.5 million Russian military casualties.
The casualty figures have not been verified by official Russian sources.
Why it matters
If the hackers' claims are true, the breach could expose sensitive government data and internal statistics, including information Russia has kept secret about the war. It also shows that even non-military government agencies can be high-value targets for cyberattacks.
Key points
- Hackers claim to have stolen 23TB of data from Russia's statistics agency.
- The agency admits cyberattacks but denies any data was leaked.
- Leaked data allegedly includes sensitive war casualty figures.
- Attackers say they accessed and wiped core IT systems.
- The true scale and impact of the breach are still being investigated.
Sources
Tom's Hardware
Reference
TechRadar
Reference
