Due to Russia's cyberattack, all registration actions are unavailable, about 25 state registers suspended – lawyer
Due to Russia's cyberattack, all registration actions are unavailable in Ukraine, about 25 state registers have been suspended, the consequences of the attack on the registers will become fully clear after the restoration of the register, managing partner of the RI Group law firm Oleksandr Keer said.
"As a result of the massive cyberattack, the work of about 25 state registers has been suspended to one degree or another, which has practically paralyzed a significant part of the processes in various areas of business and citizens' lives. Now almost all activities requiring obtaining data from state registers have been paused, in particular, all registration actions are unavailable," he told Interfax-Ukraine.
Keer said that, first of all, the situation is a problem "for areas of activity related to real estate, since it is impossible to carry out transactions with real estate – purchase and sale agreements, leases, donations, mortgage agreements are not concluded, pledges, seizures of property, prohibitions on alienation of property, etc. are not issued."
"Businesses and citizens are forced to simply postpone the implementation of these actions until the proper operation of state registers is restored," he said.
Keer said all legal and notarial actions requiring access to state registers are not carried out until the registers are restored.
"Notaries have suspended most notarial actions related to the need to use real estate and movable property registers, but continue to provide services that do not require verification of data from the registers, for example, registration of wills, amendments to them, certification of the authenticity of a signature, certification of copies of documents, etc.," he said.
Keer also said businesses are currently unable to carry out registration actions in the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, in particular, it is impossible to formalize a change in the director, participants of legal entities, or a change in the charter capital.
In addition, due to the cyberattack, the provision of registration services related to the change of ownership of vehicles, except for services for the initial registration of vehicles (new and imported from abroad), was suspended by the service centers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
"Both businesses and citizens have no other choice but to postpone the actions that are currently impossible until the registries are established. There is no clear and verified information about the leakage and destruction of critical data from the registries. Therefore, the consequences of the attack on the registries will become fully clear after the registry is restored and will largely depend on how critical the damage to the registries is," he said.
Keer believes that, for example, after restoring access to the State Register of Rights to Real Estate, "it is quite possible that data will disappear from the register or information about the owners of real estate objects, the arrest or pledge of these objects, and the like will change." "This situation creates certain opportunities for the implementation of various types of fraudulent actions with real estate. In this regard, after restoring access to the registers, we strongly recommend that you thoroughly check the information in the registers and, if you discover that the information has disappeared, changed, or has been otherwise affected, immediately take appropriate measures to protect your violated rights and interests," the lawyer said.
As reported, on December 19, the Ministry of Justice announced a large-scale failure at the level of the network infrastructure servicing state registers due to Russia's cyberattack on state registers under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Justice. According to Deputy Prime Minister Olha Stefanishyna, the time for priority restoration will be approximately two weeks. First of all, the State Register of Civil Status Acts of Citizens, the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, and the State Register of Rights to Real Estate and Their Encumbrances will be restored.
On December 20, Stefanishyna said all data in the registers will be restored, but it will take some time, and that the leak of personal data is not confirmed.