Belarusian hackers have claimed responsibility for an attack on the country's train network in a bid to stop more of Russian's military advancing into Ukraine.
The group, called the 'Cyber Partisans', alleged that they've stopped trains in Orsha, Osipovichi and Minsk.
The hackers clarified that they've not created 'emergency situations' but instead have simply 'significantly slow[ed] down the movement of trains' that are potentially carrying Russians into northern Ukraine.
The group explained that it compromised the train network's routing system by encrypting the data on devices and switching them, The Independent reports.
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By switching the devices in the network's routing system, the Cyber Partisans stated that the trains had subsequently been put into 'manual control'.
The hackers' aim is reportedly to 'slow down the transfer' of troops moving into Ukraine from Belarus.
The Belarusian Cyber-Partisans wrote on Twitter, 'We continue to help Ukrainians in their fight against Russian occupation forces. The Railways is under attack. The computer network is in a state of collapse. Manual control mode is enabled, which will slow down the movement of trains but will NOT create emergency situations. It will NOT endanger ordinary citizens!'
In a later tweet, the group gave 'instructions' to 'all the partisans of Belarus' on ways to 'slow down the work of the railway on the ground'.
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'Soon Lukashenka, as an obedient puppet of Putin, will send the military into battle with the Ukrainians. Refuse to carry out criminal orders and join our volunteer squads as soon as you cross the border into Ukraine. Together we win!,' it stated.
The group also shared an image from the 'the monitoring system of the Belarusian Railway's internal computer network', which is branded 'an outdated piece of crapware that runs on Windows XP...'.
In its latest update to the hacking of the railway network, the Cyber Partisans reposted a statement first shared on messaging platform Telegram.
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It stated, 'Belarusian railway has been switched to manual mode of operation. Dispatching system “Neman” is disabled. The associated software does not work. There is information that the Minsk and Orsha railroad hubs are paralyzed.'
A former employee of the country's state-owned Belarus Railway company, Sergei Voitehowich, confirmed that the train traffic control system had been damaged by the hackers, Bloomberg reports.
He noted that a junction between Minsk and Orsha had been particularly badly affected.
The infamous hacking group Anonymous, which is thought to have been behind another hacking incident that saw the Kremlin's website shut down alongside five other governmental websites, has also since responded to the Belarusian Cyber-Partisans attacks after it seemed to imply it had denied the attack was happening.
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Anonymous wrote on Twitter, 'We sourced the Belarus railway attack, and quote straight from who's doing it. We retract our last statement that it wasn't happening. Sometimes in the thick of battle, we need to pause and make sure information is correct. Apologies. -YAN.'
While former railway employee Voitehowich explained that the issue with the train traffic control system had since been resolved, he stated that train movement remains 'very difficult' because of external train network websites remaining down, and other systems still not operating properly making it 'impossible to buy tickets'.
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Topics: Ukraine, Russia, Vladimir Putin
Poppy Bilderbeck