By Steven Musil
An image posted by hacktivist group Cyber Berkut.
(Credit: Cyber Berkut)
Pro-Russian Ukrainian hackers claimed responsibility for a cyberattack that took down several NATO Web sites amid rising tensions over military incursions into the Crimean peninsula.
A hactivist group calling itself Cyber Berkut claimed to have launched attacks Saturday that took down NATO’s main page and that of NATO’s cyber defence center. The group also claimed to have taken down the site for NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly.
NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu confirmed on Twitter that several NATO sites had been the target of a “significant” distributed-denial-of-service attack but said the integrity of the systems was unaffected and experts were working to restore normal functionality.
DDoS attack on some #NATO sites ongoing but most services restored. Integrity of NATO data &systems not affected. We continue working on it
— Oana Lungescu (@NATOpress) March 16, 2014
Related stories
- Really Francis? Here’s where ‘House of Cards’ could use IT help
- Data breach at University of Maryland exposes 300K records
- Hackers hit Tesco as over 2,200 accounts compromised
The attacks came on the eve of a referendum on whether Ukraine’s Crimea region should join Russia. The UN Security Council introduced a resolution declaring the referendum invalid, but Russia vetoed the resolution Saturday.
Along with an escalation in cross-border hacking activity, Internet censorship has also seen a recent increase. The Russian government ordered Russian ISPs to block access to a handful of Russian Web sites noted for their criticism of President Vladimir Putin and his government.
Related Links:
Ukraine under cyberattack as US-Russia tensions rise
Cyberattacked site offers $13K hacker reward
Namecheap targeted in monumental DDoS attack
DDoS attack is launched from 162,000 WordPress sites
Bitcoin exchanges reportedly served with subpoenas