The anonymous hacker group CikLeak says they have breached the infrastructure of Russia’s Central Election Commission, as well as its key tech contractor Tsifrotekh, a subsidiary of Rostelecom, reports the Russian independent outlet ASTRA, citing an investigation by Vazhniye Istoriyi.

According to the investigation, Tsifrotekh was the developer of the new version of Russia’s state-run election automation system, the GAS Vybory 2.0.

The successful cyberattack resulted in a large-scale data leak. The hackers managed to access and steal:

  • the developer company’s internal documentation;
  • the source code for GAS Vybory 2.0;
  • recordings of the staff’s business calls and correspondence;
  • databases of the staff’s passwords and login credentials.

The hackers shared the archive of obtained documents with the Vazhniye Istoriyi team. The journalists have reviewed the body of information and confirmed the stolen material was authentic.

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Russia had planned to launch GAS Vybory 2.0 in early 2026. The upcoming elections to Russia’s State Duma, 9th convocation, are expected to be the first federal election campaign that Russia intends to carry out entirely using the updated software system.

As IMI has reported, the Russian forces are using the property they have seized from what was once the Luhansk Oblast Broadcasting Company for campaigning ahead of elections to Russia’s State Duma.