Earlier on Friday, NSPK Information Security Head Artem Gutnik said that the number of cyberattacks on the NSPK has increased not two or three times but much more since February. He noted that hackers operate relentlessly, adding that Russia's banking industry is reliable and that the information security in Russia is probably one of the best in the world.
According to the report, Ukrainian hackers launched DDoS attacks on the system amid the news that some countries friendly to Russia could refuse to work with the Mir payment system.
Cybersecurity sources confirmed to Kommersant the attack, while the Bank of Russia and the NSPK refused to comment on the matter.
The media cited the sources as saying that hackers generate traffic using browsers or primitive DDoS tools to cause disruptions in payment processing and terminals' operation.
On September 15, the US Treasury said that sanctions would be applied against financial institutions supporting the Mir payment network outside Russia.
On Monday, Turkish banks Ishbank and Denizbank confirmed to Sputnik that they had stopped servicing the Mir bank cards over US and UK sanctions against Russia.
On Friday, Uzbek national banking service Uzcard suspended the processing of the Russian payment system Mir’s cards, citing technical issues, after the United States threatened secondary sanctions. At the same time, co-branded Mir cards continue to operate in standard mode on the territory of Uzbekistan, the service specified.