Ukraineʼs Epicentr Resumes Operations Following Hacker Attack

Epicentr, Ukraine’s largest home improvement hypermarket network, was able to resume operations across all of its stores after a cyberattack disrupted business on the night of April 27-28.

The hack still caused serious damage to the company’s systems, with many stores facing problems during the day on Monday but its main outlets were working normally by the evening, although some of its smaller stores still have issues, the company wrote.

All accounting registers and journals had disappeared from the company’s database, the company wrote. Without them, Epicentr cannot generate its financial or tax reports.

The company was still grappling with the issue overnight on April 28-29.

“The Epicentr team is working hard to fix the damage and fully restore all services as soon as possible,” the company said.

The Epicentr mobile app was still not working at 4 p.m. on Monday, Forbes Ukraine reported. 

On April 28, dozens of Epicentr stores were unable to serve customers because the cash registers were not working, which the company’s press service put down to unspecified technical problems. 

Previous attacks

In 2024, the number of cyberattacks on Ukraine increased by 69.8%, with 4,315 incidents being reported, compared to 2,541 in 2023, according to the State Special Communications Service.

On March 23, Russian hackers attacked Ukraine’s State Railways Company, Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ), blocking online ticket sales and cargo registration.

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Although the cyberattack didn’t disrupt passenger traffic, it did impact cargo traffic, resulting in a decrease in Ukraine’s first-quarter GDP, according to figures published by the Institute of Economic Research. 

Kyivstar’s mobile phone and internet services were compromised by a major cyberattack in December 2023 – resulting in some 24.3 million subscribers losing their communication services, while shops throughout the country were unable to process credit payments.