Unprecedented hacker attack on the CEC's resources exposed by Ella Pamfilova
Russia is currently holding regional and local election polls from September 12 to 14, with voting organized in 81 out of 89 Russian regions. However, the elections are taking place amidst a series of cyber attacks, as reported by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
According to Ella Pamfilova, the CEC chair, over 290,000 attacks have been launched on the CEC portal, and more than 200,000 on the remote electronic voting (VEB) portal. Roskomnadzor data shows 99 DDoS attacks on CEC resources, Moscow's DIT, and VEB, lasting for 3 hours and 40 minutes. Despite these attacks, the CEC has not reported any significant impact on its system functionality.
In a bid to ensure smooth voting, extra-territorial polling stations have been set up. In Moscow alone, 17,700 people are registered to vote at these stations. Nearly 12,000 people have already cast their votes at these stations in Moscow, while almost 1.5 million people have voted remotely nationwide.
The voting schedule varies across regions. In most regions, polling stations are open for three days, but in some regions, voting will last for two days or will only take place on September 14. For instance, polls in Kamchatka Krai closed at 20:00 local time (11:00 Moscow time) on September 12, and the vote count has begun in the governor's election in Kamchatka Krai. However, the CEC has not yet released any information regarding the number of votes cast in the Kamchatka Krai governor's election.
The problems with the CEC website are explained by a network failure with 'Rostelecom'. However, the CEC has not yet provided a statement regarding the cause of this network failure. The CEC's system functionality has not been affected, as it is 'absolutely autonomous from the global system.'
VEB is a crucial component of the election process, as it is actively used in 2025 and is available in 24 regions, including 18 for all levels of elections. The search results do not specify who conducted the DDoS attacks on the CEC resources. They only mention a Denial-of-Service vulnerability in SAP Business Planning and Consolidation that could be exploited by authenticated standard users, causing resource exhaustion and system unavailability.
Direct elections are not being organized in certain regions like Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, DNR, LNR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. The elections are expected to conclude on September 14, and the results will shape the political landscape of these regions for the coming years.
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