As anticipated, Russian Railways became the target of a large-scale Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack, significantly impacting both its website and mobile application. The cyberattack disrupted online services, rendering them inaccessible to users for an extended period. However, despite the digital onslaught, the sale of tickets at railway transit counters and the overall functioning of the rail network remained unaffected. This indicated that the technical infrastructure responsible for railway operations was not compromised, underscoring the limited scope of the attack.
The nature of the attack suggests that the hackers primarily focused on disrupting the servers hosting content related to the Russian Railways website and mobile application. While the online services were temporarily down, efforts to restore them were underway, with an expected return to full functionality at any moment.
A spokesperson from Moscow’s Transportation Department addressed the situation through a press statement on Telegram. The statement acknowledged that the mass denial-of-service attack had only a minimal impact on essential services and confirmed that restoration efforts were progressing rapidly. A significant portion of the affected systems had already been brought back online, with measures in place to ensure long-term stability.
Preliminary investigations have pointed toward a ‘Hacker Army’ allegedly funded by Ukraine’s Military Intelligence as the orchestrators behind the attack. Further intelligence reports suggest that this may not be an isolated incident, as additional cyberattacks are expected to be launched throughout April 2025, possibly targeting other Russian infrastructure.
Initial speculation suggested that the attack might have been executed by exploiting a vulnerability in Russian Railways’ operational software. However, subsequent analysis disproved this theory. Instead, the attack was identified as a massive surge of fake web traffic overwhelming the servers simultaneously. This flood of illegitimate requests effectively blocked access to genuine users, causing severe disruptions to online services.
Notably, this cyber incident comes just nine days after Ukrainian Railways experienced a similar attack on March 23, 2025. That incident led to a temporary disruption of both website and mobile application services. Later investigations attributed the attack to Kremlin-backed operatives, who reportedly leveraged a network of botnets leased from South Africa to execute the strike.
Given the timing and similarities between the two incidents, the latest attack on Russian Railways is widely speculated to be an act of retaliation by Ukraine against Vladimir Putin’s government. If confirmed, this marks another chapter in the escalating cyber conflict between the two nations, highlighting the increasing role of digital warfare in modern geopolitical tensions.
