Monobank, Ukraine’s largest mobile-only bank, was targeted with a series of DDoS attacks on January 21, causing significant disruption to its operations. Co-founder and CEO Oleh Horokhovskyi confirmed the cyberattack and revealed that the bank was hit with an overwhelming 580 million service requests in one of the attacks.
DDoS attacks have become a popular tactic among cybercriminals to disrupt services by flooding a website with excessive traffic to overload its servers. Horokhovskyi expressed concern over the severity of the attacks, stating, “I think today Monobank is one of the most attacked IT targets in the country.”
This cyberattack follows a similar incident on January 20, when the bank experienced a DDoS attack involving 50 million service requests. While assuring the public that the situation was under control, Horokhovskyi revealed that another wave of attacks had commenced.
Though the Monobank CEO did not attribute the attacks to any specific entity, he noted that past threats had been linked to Russian hackers. This incident is reminiscent of a previous cyberattack in December 2023, when Monobank was targeted on the same day as a massive cyber assault on Ukrainian phone operator Kyivstar.
Cyber warfare has played an increasingly prominent role in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Recent attacks have targeted key Ukrainian organizations, and Microsoft’s report suggests that Russia is implementing a multi-pronged hybrid technology strategy to destabilize Ukraine. Experts predict that Russia is preparing for its next wave of cyber attacks, aiming to exploit and form destabilizing alliances critical to Ukraine’s resilience.
As the conflict evolves, the international community closely watches its potential ramifications.
