A vacation abroad turned into a hacking of "Gosuslugi" and 11 foreign SIM cards for a resident of Kirov.

      A girl who had just returned from abroad contacted the police in the Kirov region. She raised the alarm during her vacation: documents she had not requested began to arrive one after another in her email. Among them were an electronic signature certificate and notifications from several mobile operators about the activation of unknown numbers.

      When the traveler tried to log into her account on the "Gosuslugi" portal, an unpleasant picture emerged. A stranger's contact phone number was displayed in her personal profile, and contracts for the acquisition of 11 SIM cards had already been signed in her name. The girl attempted to immediately change her password, but was unable to do so — all confirmation notifications were sent to the fraudsters' number. She could not regain control of her account while abroad.

      She had to wait until she returned home. Once in Kirov, the victim contacted the MFC, where they helped restore access to her account. Police officers found that the criminals had deliberately hacked the profile — all 11 contracts for communication services were issued without the real owner's knowledge.

      A criminal case has been opened under part 1 of article 272 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (unauthorized access to computer information). Law enforcement is currently identifying the hackers.

      The Ministry of Internal Affairs reminds that a single password is no longer sufficient to protect "Gosuslugi." The police strongly advise enabling two-factor authentication — this means that when logging in, not only a password is required, but also a code from an SMS or application. It is also advisable to regularly update the login combination and never use it on other sites. Accessing the personal account should only be done through the official portal address, and personal data should be kept secret even from "well-wishers" on the internet.