The state-owned PrivatBank (Kyiv) will utilize alternative sources of information to ensure the stable operation of the financial institution until the restoration of state registries following the Russian cyberattack.
"To ensure the stable operation of the bank's services and products, specialists are working with alternative sources of information during the period until the registries are fully restored," – reported Evgeny Zaigraev, a member of the Privat board responsible for corporate business and SMEs, in response to an inquiry from the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
The banker did not specify which alternative sources of information Privat is using. He added that the financial institution continues to provide all essential services to clients as usual.
"(...) according to my information, the enemy's hacker attack on the Ministry of Justice's registries did not result in any visible consequences for the functioning of the country's financial system. Monobank is operating as normal," - commented Oleg Gorokhovsky, co-owner of monobank, on the effects of the cyberattack.
At the same time, a source in the banking market informed the agency about difficulties in opening accounts for businesses due to the inability to conduct full identification because of the lack of opportunity to verify the client's declared data in the registry of legal entities.
According to him, the situation with individuals is better; however, the financial institution lacks the ability to check an individual's presence in the debtor registry, which also hinders the opening of an account for them at the bank.
The National Bank of Ukraine has not yet officially commented on the situation, but there is information regarding its preparation of a recommendation letter to banks.
As reported, on December 19, the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine announced a large-scale failure at the level of the network infrastructure servicing state registries.
Later, Deputy Prime Minister Olga Stefanishina stated that Russia had carried out a cyberattack on the state registries under the Ministry of Justice's jurisdiction, aiming to disrupt the operation of critical infrastructure; their operation has been temporarily suspended. She noted that the estimated time for priority restoration will be up to two weeks. According to her, the first registries to be restored will be the State Registry of Civil Status Acts, the Unified State Registry of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, and the State Registry of Rights to Real Estate and Their Encumbrances.