DDoS Attack Takes Ukraine Defense Ministry Website Offline

Ukraine”s Defense Ministry website was taken offline following a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack aimed at rendering it inoperable.

While no cybercriminal organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk believes it was aimed at preventing updates from going out to pro-Russian separatists. He said the site is constantly under fire from similar attacks, but this is the first time when it was actually taken offline.

“The purpose of the attacks was to prevent Ukraine’s Defense Ministry from being able to inform the public,” said spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk.

The attack is the latest in a long series of similar events aimed at Ukrainian institutions, including the Ministry of Finance. Their website was also recently attacked in what was described to be a “professional hacker attack” that caused physical damages as well.

The official statement says network equipment was also damaged during the attack on the Ministry of Finance and State Treasury, causing delay in payments. While the attack was successfully contained, the attack”s authors and the extent of the damage remain unclear.

“Today the coordinated professional hacker attacks bodies of the Ministry of Finance,” reads last week”s the official statement from the Ministry of Finance. “Cyber attacks damaged network equipment.”

Since Ukraine has faced similar such cyber-attacks on its infrastructure, with cyberespionage malware deployed across various industries, recent attacks have yet to be attributed, directly or indirectly, to anyone.

While the situation is currently under control, it”s likely that an investigation is underway.