Russia's education watchdog Rosobrnadzor says it has restored its online systems after a cyberattack forced it to suspend nationwide school assessments and replaced questionnaires on its Edutest platform with anti-government messages urging students to join an underground movement against President Vladimir Putin. The 16 October incident disrupted assessments at schools and vocational education institutions — including 9th-grade questionnaires scheduled across 29 Russian regions — and, according to the agency, targeted its online resources and those of the Federal Institute for Education Quality Assessment (FIOKO), a subordinate body that assesses education standards. A pro-Ukrainian group calling itself Black Spark claimed responsibility, describing itself as an underground resistance movement operating inside Russia and denying that it recruits minors; the group has previously claimed attacks on Russian technology firms, including software developer Microolap in August, and said schoolchildren had sent it messages of support. Rosobrnadzor has not disclosed how attackers gained access or whether any information was stolen. It is a rare case of hacktivist disruption reaching school students directly and a reminder that public assessment platforms are exposed infrastructure.

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