Large-scale cyberattack on Ukrainian government websites – VG

Several Ukrainian government websites were down on Wednesday afternoon. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailo Fedorov has said that a massive cyber attack is underway.

Websites that stopped Wednesday afternoon, among others Ministry of Foreign Affairsincluding the Ukrainian Embassy in Norway Websites too Ministry of Interior Affairs and Ukrainian National Assembly. Banks must also be affected.

The first reports of trouble came at around 15:30 Norwegian time on Wednesday afternoon.

According to the news agency, Fedorov reports that this is a case of a massive cyber attack that began in Ukraine Interfax.

– Around 4 PM, a massive new DDoS attack against our state began. Fedorov, who is also the Minister for Digital Transformation, says that there are relevant data from several banks, and there are also problems with access to the websites of Parliament, the government and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Fedorov says the reason for the website downtime is to move the traffic to another operator to reduce the damage from the attack.

at DDoS attack, also known as a denial of service attack, is a type of cyber attack that prevents someone or something from accessing the information or resources they want to access. It works, for example, that the target is flooded with so much information that you can’t get to the website. Other information does not come through.

mid January The website of the Ukrainian authorities has been subjected to a large-scale cyber attack. Then Ukraine referred to Russia.

Ukraine has historically been hit by a large number of cyberattacks from Russia, according to Ukrainian authorities. Russia has previously denied any involvement in the attack.

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IT expert: – creates uncertainty

Torgeir Waterhouse, IT expert and partner at consulting firm Otte, told VG that such an attack could have many consequences.

The cyber attack prevents the flow of information between the authorities and the population and the ability of the authorities to communicate internally. Waterhouse says important information becomes unavailable to residents and trust in the authorities can be reduced.

– Strangers can also fill in false information to deceive residents, but it depends on how widespread the attack is.

He believes that a cyber attack often annoys the authorities and creates the impression that they have no control over the situation.

– Waterhouse says it’s about creating insecurity in the population and proving that you have the power.

Depending on the attacks at hand and the resources Ukraine has to clean up, it could take anywhere from a few hours to several days to get websites up and running again, according to Waterhouse.

Ukraine has seen many of these attacks, and we will continue to see more of them in the future. Such an attack is 100 percent predictable, and Russia may well be behind it. It’s part of today’s war, and as with other aspects of war, there’s also the possibility that someone could conduct attacks on digital infrastructure that affect us as well, he says.

Recognized separatist areas

The cyber attack comes on the heels of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday night recognizing two separate regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine as independent states, then deciding to send Russian troops to the two regions.

Putin himself calls them “peacekeepers,” but said Tuesday night that the situation on the ground would determine what the troops would do.

These are the central areas of conflict:

A number of sanctions have been announced from several countries, including the European Union and the United States of America.

Since 2014, Russian-backed separatists in Donetsk, Luhansk and Ukrainian government forces have been in an armed conflict. Recently, there has been an increase in clashes and violence on the border between Ukraine and Russia.

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