According to one of its members, Yuliana Shametavets, this cyberattack would be a response to accusations by the main KGB agency against the Cyber-Partisans group of fomenting an attack on Russia’s sensitive infrastructure.
Make no mistake. Just as there are Russia and Belarus, there is the KGB and… the KGB. Because it is a cyberattack on the Belarusian KGB that we are talking about. Between the two neighboring countries, similarities, alliances, and bad alliances are an old sea serpent. But the fact remains that they are still secret services. And it is precisely these secret services that a Belarusian splinter group, called Cyber-Partisans, claims to have hacked.
Through the voice of Yuliana Shametavets, a representative of the group who spoke to the American news agency AP, it was the Belarusian KGB that struck first, accusing the Cyber-Partisans of having premeditated attacks on several sensitive sites in the country. An eye for an eye, then.
Belarus is a prime target for dissident hacktivist members of the Cyber-Partisans group
But why do the Cyber Partisans hold such a grudge against their KGB? The rift took shape after Alexander Lukashenko’s controversial re-election in 2020. Faced with the harsh repression of post-election protests, these hacktivists, anonymous IT professionals, based abroad, decided to take action against the authoritarian regime. Their first actions were symbolic, such as hacking state news websites to broadcast images of police brutality and placing Lukashenko and the Interior Minister on a wanted list. They also replaced the official Belarusian flag on government websites with the white-red-white flag, the emblem of the dissidents.
Over time, the Cyber Partisans have evolved, partnering with BYPOL, a group of former Belarusian police officers who also oppose Lukashenko. This alliance has made it possible to better plan their cyberattacks, always aimed at denouncing the violence of the regime and promoting democracy. The members of the group, who maintain their anonymity even among themselves, consider themselves ethical hackers, who target the state without harming citizens. Their spokesperson, Yuliana Shemetovets, operates from New York, and their ultimate goal is to end repression in Belarus and restore democratic principles.
The files and names of nearly 9,000 KGB employees, a Telegram chatbot to identify its agents, the loot claimed by the Cyber-Partisans
It was after years of unsuccessful attempts to hack the KGB that the Cyber Partisans came out on April 28. They also posted their result on their X.com account.