A laptop screen showing a warning message in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, appeared on the official website of Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry following a major cyber attack on Friday.
Valentyn Ogirenko / REUTERS
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Valentyn Ogirenko / REUTERS
A laptop screen showing a warning message in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, appeared on the official website of Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry following a major cyber attack on Friday.
Valentyn Ogirenko / REUTERS
Dozens of Ukrainian government websites have suffered an ominous cyber attack, with hackers warning people to “be scared and expect the worst.”
The attack took over the websites of the foreign ministry, cabinet of ministers and security and defense councils, posting an on-screen message in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish that read: “Ukraine! All your personal data has been uploaded to the public network. All data on the computer is destroyed and cannot be recovered.”
“All information about you has been made public, fear and expect the worst. This is for your past, present and future,” said the hacker.
A spokesperson for the State Department said: “As a result of a major cyber attack, the websites of the State Department and several other government agencies are temporarily down. Twitter. “Our experts have begun to restore the operation of IT systems and the network technology agency has opened an investigation.”
Officials in Kyiv have not said who is behind the breach, but Russian hackers have previously been blamed for similar attacks in Ukraine. It should be noted that Similar network tactics was used against Georgian government sites in 2008 during a brief conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi over South Ossetia. And in 2015, Sandworms, a Russian hacking group, hacked into Ukraine’s power grid.
The attacks come at a time of heightened tensions with Moscow, as some 100,000 Russian troops supported by tanks and artillery have landed on the border with Ukraine, what some observers fear is a display prelude to an invasion. The Kremlin has denied any plans to invade Ukraine.
The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, condemned the cyber attack and suggested mobilizing resources to help restore computer systems. “I can’t blame anyone because I have no proof, but we can imagine,” Borrell said in an apparent reference to Russia.
In 2020, US Department of Justice charged six hackers believed to be officers in Russia’s military intelligence branch in connection with computer hacks targeting Ukraine and Georgia.
In recent weeks, Russia has stepped up its long-standing demand that Ukraine, a former Soviet republic that gained independence after the Soviet Union collapsed at the end of the Cold War, should never be allowed to join NATO. . The Kremlin also made a similar request to Georgia.
Russia’s special envoys and European and NATO leaders appear to have made little progress this week in resolving differences in talks in Vienna and Brussels.
On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told NPR’s All things Considered that the United States is fully prepared for a Russian invasion of Ukraine and is ready to do “things that we have not done in the past” if it deems necessary.
Speaking of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Blinken said that “it’s probably because he’s not quite decided on what he’s going to do.”
“We have an important responsibility to help shape his thinking and again clarify from our perspective what the choices are, the consequences of the choices he can make,” says Blinken. What is the pursuit,” Blinken said.
