Cyberattack Hits Rosstat as Hackers Claim Huge Data Theft

Russia’s state statistics agency Rosstat said a coordinated cyberattack targeted its main website and regional portals from 29 October to 1 November. Hackers claimed they stole 23 terabytes of data, including information on Russian military losses in Ukraine, but their claims have not been independently verified.

Rosstat said its monitoring systems detected suspicious activity and denied that databases or legally protected information had been leaked; its main website was inaccessible when the article was published. The hackers also claimed to have taken demographic and economic statistics and documents marked “for official use only”. The allegations have drawn attention because Rosstat stopped publishing annual cause-of-death statistics in 2024, while some other data relevant to assessing the war’s impact have also become unavailable.