Sberbank has confirmed that one of its data centers in Russia’s Saratov region was targeted in a drone attack.
Alexander Vedyakhin, first deputy chairman of Sberbank’s executive board, said no employees were injured and that the bank’s systems and services continued operating normally.
Saratov Governor Roman Busargin had earlier reported a large-scale drone attack on Balakovo. According to the governor, several residential buildings were damaged and a woman was killed. His initial statement did not mention the data center.
Construction of the Balakovo data center began in 2021, and its first phase has already been commissioned. The entire project was expected to be completed by 2030. Russian officials and companies involved in the project have described it as the largest data center in Russia and one of the largest in Europe.
Important Stories reported that shortly before the attack, the company operating the facility had stepped up purchases of anti-drone equipment. InfoTech Balakovo had placed orders since August for electronic warfare systems, protective equipment, firefighting gear and other defensive measures worth about 59 million rubles.
A significant share of the purchases was placed urgently on October 5, nine days before the attack. They included anti-aircraft searchlights worth 5.2 million rubles and mobile Gerakl drone detection and suppression systems worth 7.33 million rubles.
The attack on the Sberbank facility followed a series of recent strikes against Russian data infrastructure. Three large Yandex data centers in Sasovo, Kaluga and Vladimir had been damaged over the previous week.