by The Russia’s National Airline Aeroflot had to cancel dozens of flights on Monday after a massive cyber attack led to the company’s computer systems failing.
A hacking group called Silent Crow took over the responsibility for the campaign alongside an outfit, which is known as cyber partisans.
“We explain the successful completion of a longer and large-scale company in which the internal IT infrastructure of Aeroflot was fully impaired and destroyed,” wrote Silent Crow on telegram. “Fame of Ukraine” long live Belarus! “
The hackers claim that one -year infiltration of aeroflots systems has enabled them to steal 20 terabytes of data and destroy 7,000 servers.
The extent of the attack has led to questions about who the hackers actually are and how much threats they could represent for Russia.
Who is silent crow?
The telegram channel, which serves as the group of mouths, was founded on Christmas Day 2024, with the first attack being claimed just a few weeks later.
In January 2025, Silent Crow said that it was behind a violation of the Russia real estate register of Roseestern, which compromised around 2 billion records.
In the same month, the hackers took responsibility for an attack on the Russian telecommunications company Rostelecom, which seeped away from customer information by one of his contractors. The company claimed that no sensitive data was stolen.
Other alleged goals are Moscow Ministry of Information Technologies, Kia Russia and Alfa Bank – Russia’s largest private bank.
What are the motivations of the group?
Silent Crow positions himself as a Pro-Ukraine group of hacktivist activists hacker that Russia and its allies aim.
“You are unable to protect your most critical infrastructure yourself,” wrote the group after the Aeroflot attack. “Their digital security is meaningless for all members of the repressive apparatus. They have been observed for a long time.”
The goals of the group and the fact that she never asked for a ransom of her victims have inevitably led to speculation that it is supported by Ukraine, although Kyiv did not comment on this.
This seems to be the first time that the group has worked together alongside cyber partisans that share similar motivations.
Cyber partisans are a long-established hacker group from Belarus, which has been active for at least 2022-of which Russia has launched its full invasion in Ukraine.
The group describes itself as a “highly organized hacktivist collective that fights for the liberation of the Belarus of dictatorial rule”.
How did Russia react?
The Kremlin described the latest cyber attack against Aeroflot as “worrying”, while the Russian public prosecutor’s office has initiated a criminal investigation.
The senior Russian legislator Anton Gorelkin described the incident as a “wake-up call” and called for the reinforcement of the country’s cyber defense.
“We must not forget that the war against our country is waged on all fronts, including the digital,” he said in a statement.
“I do not rule out that the” hacktivists “who have asserted responsibility for the incident are in the service of unfriendly states.”
