Hackers took down the RuTube site and hijacked Russian TV broadcast

Russian TV and online platforms were hacked to display an antiwar message on Victory Day

Hackers hijacked TV broadcast with pro-Ukraine messages on Victory Day in Russia

Cybercriminals continue to target Russian media and other channels with cyberattacks while the conflict with Ukraine is still active. Russian TV got hacked to show the pro-Ukraine message, and the Russian YouTube version site RuTube video streaming site was taken down.^[1] It was all happening during the parade for the Victory Day in the country. Putin's speech and military parade broadcast got interrupted by the “blood on your hands” message.^[2]

One of the displayed messages:

You have the blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of dead children on your hands

Cable and satellite TV stations in Russia are very strictly censored, but hackers managed to open citizens' eyes to flash the “No to War” message. Russian citizens trying to access TV schedules on the smart TVs read messages that accused the Kremlin of propaganda and that their hands are bloody due to the acts of violence that Ukraine is suffering right now.^[3]

Cyberattacks against Russia have been more common since the start of the war against Ukraine.^[4] The day chosen for the hacktivist campaign was very important for national pride. There are no particular gangs who could be associated with these incidents or the ones that take responsibility for such actions. It can be related to foreign actors or Russian hacker gangs that are against these violent actions.

RuTube shutdown after the cyberattack

Since these media channels and new portals are very strictly controlled, there is another video streaming platform just for the Russians – RuTube. The site, similar to YouTube, gets around 3 million visitors per month and caters to Russian-speaking users. The video content provider suffered the cyberattacks and had to confirm that the site was taken offline due to the incident.

The message that appears once the site is visited states that the page is under technical repair due to the attack. Service providers state that all user content and personal data are untouched by the threat actors and attackers. The incident affected all servers because it is the same message whether you try to access the platform via smart TV, computer, or phone.

The community on Telegram continues to get updates from the officials regarding the RuTube attack. The platform is down but the video archive of the platform was not accessed, according to the experts working on restoring the website. However, the attack is categorized as powerful, and the recovery timeline or the process is not estimated.

Lawsuits against Netflix, Dell, and Apple for stopping their services in Russia

The particular sanctions were introduced against Russia by the Western world due to the conflict with Ukraine. Many companies seized their operations in the country.^[5] A Russian law firm sued Apple and Netflix for the breach of contract because people paid for the services that were no longer available in the country. The lawsuit against Netflix was filed in April for the breach of terms of use with the demand for compensation going up to 60 million rubles – $860,000.

The class action seeks damages of 90 million rubles which equals around $1,290,000. The lawsuit states that Apple pulled the Apple Pay payment service from the country, but the Russian iOS users were marketed to have experience of this function indefinitely when they bought their iPhone devices. This move degraded the value of their products in the country.

These unprecedented sanctions against Russia pushed various companies in the western world into unknown territory. Firms now struggle to plan their moves out of the country because there are various assets to move, and possible consequences of exiting the Russian market follow.

Not leaving the market entirely can come with public scrutiny and other issues regarding the public image and association with the violence and directly sponsoring war. However, companies need to consider these possible civil fines and even criminal prosecution from clients in Russia.