On 9 November 2023, Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne reported that it had been targeted in a cyber attack by Russian hackers, who attempted to take control of some of its satellite broadcasts, the media company said in a statement.
Ukraine’s public broadcaster reported that at approximately 11 a.m. local time, an “attempt to interfere with the work” of the channels was recorded, in the course of which hackers tried to jam signals and change the content of the broadcasts. Broadcasts resumed close to 1 p.m. local time, Suspilne reported. Five TV channels were targeted in the attack, the broadcaster said: Pershiy (Channel One), Suspilne News, Suspilne Crimea, Suspilne Culture and Suspilne Sport.
The president of Suspilne’s supervisory board, Svitlana Ostapa, accused Russia of being behind the attack, claiming that authorities in the country “did not like” the reporting on the war provided by Ukraine’s public broadcaster, she said in a comment to the Institute of Mass Information (IMI), a Kyiv-based press freedom group.
“We can confirm that our company’s satellite broadcasting experienced an attack,” Ostapa told IPI. “It is currently impossible to identify the specific entity responsible for the attack. However, it is noteworthy that the jamming involved a strong signal featuring propaganda content in Russian.”
She added that Suspilne was considering moving its broadcasts to “satellites [offering] better protection” as a result of the attack. The attempted hacking of the Ukrainian public broadcaster took place on the same day as a large-scale cyber attack against independent radio station Hromadske Radio.