Alghadeer TV Alghadeer TV
The Russian Defense Ministry’s website has come under a cyberattack from outside of Russia that paralyzed the portal for an hour, the ministry has announced.
The Defense Ministry said it had been hit by a distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Friday.
“The source of the attack on the… Defense Ministry’s website is located outside the Russian Federation,” the ministry was quoted as saying by state news agency TASS.
“The website was unavailable for at least an hour, but was accessible again shortly after 0930 GMT,” said the ministry, adding that the attack had caused no harm to the IT infrastructure of the site.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a report in May that foreign hackers had targeted government agencies in a digital espionage campaign last year. Moscow described that campaign as unprecedented in scope and sophistication.
The latest development comes as the United States routinely blames Russia for cyberattacks against American organizations. Moscow has time and again denied involvement.
US companies, including a major fuel pipeline network, have been hit by cyberattacks in recent months, often forcing temporary shutdowns until ransoms are paid. Cyber-criminals took down Colonial Pipeline in May and disrupted fuel shipments to gas stations all along the US’s east coast. About a month later, a cyberattack against a meat processing company prompted a temporary shutdown of all nine of its plants in the United States.
Last Friday, US President Joe Biden asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to take action to disrupt groups allegedly operating in Russia that Washington claims are behind the recent ransomware attacks in the United States. Biden threatened that the United States would take “any necessary action” if Moscow did not contain the alleged hackers.
