Cyberattack Causes Widespread Outage of Russian Online Services

On the evening of May 20, 2025, Russia faced significant disruptions in several critical online services, including the Moscow Unified Medical Information and Analytical System (EMIAS), the Federal Tax Service (FTS) website, the SBIS electronic document management platform, the Honest Sign labeling system, and the Gosklyuch digital signature service. Users nationwide reported difficulties accessing these platforms, resulting in considerable inconvenience for both citizens and businesses.

According to Tensor, the operator of SBIS, the outages were attributed to a powerful DDoS attack targeting their service infrastructure.

“We are experiencing an unprecedented assault on our servers. Our specialists are actively working to restore access, but some services may remain unavailable for the time being,” a representative disclosed.

Operators of the Chestny Znak system also confirmed that their services were impacted, leading to disruptions for pharmacies and retailers reliant on product labeling. While the Federal Tax Service and the Ministry of Digital Development, which oversees Gosklyuch, have yet to officially comment on the situation, sources within these departments informed TASS that the outages were linked to external interference with their servers.

The impact of the outage was felt by many users. In Moscow, patients were unable to schedule appointments with doctors through EMIAS, while entrepreneurs experienced challenges filing tax returns on the FTS website. The issues with Chestny Znak caused delays in the sale of labeled products, including essential medications and dairy goods, which is particularly critical for pharmacies. Furthermore, Gosklyuch users reported being unable to sign documents electronically, effectively paralyzing operations for numerous organizations.