ARMA reports cyberattack amid competition for Morshynska assets

The National Agency of Ukraine for finding, tracing, and management of assets (ARMA) reported a significant cyberattack on its servers as the deadline for applications to select a manager for IDS Ukraine's assets approached. The attack occurred just before the August 22 deadline, according to ARMA's Facebook post on Tuesday. ARMA's leadership viewed this as an attempt to disrupt the process and launched an investigation into the incident.

The company's servers had been targeted by unauthorized interference consistent with a cyberattack, and ARMA's specialists and law enforcement officers are examining the attack's impact and the events surrounding the competition. ARMA emphasized that they would not be deterred by cyberattacks, information campaigns, or political pressure in fulfilling their legal obligations.

IDS Ukraine responded with surprise at the allegations, stating that they operate transparently, pay taxes, and support the Defense Forces, but found the accusations odd. The company questioned the need for further scrutiny of its financial indicators before the competition concluded, although it was open to conducting the review.

ARMA insisted that corporate rights, which were suspended in 2022, had been independent since then. Over 50% of IDS Ukraine's shares are held by international investors, but all shareholders, including sanctioned individuals with Russian citizenship, have been removed from management and have no access to the company's income. ARMA relaunched the search for a manager for IDS Ukraine's assets in May after canceling the previous competition.

The assets, which include an integrated production complex from mineral water extraction to distribution, were transferred to ARMA's management based on a court decision. Despite claims that the selection process contains significant flaws and that ARMA lacks authority, ARMA stated that they would not back down from executing the law.