Major hacker attack on Ukrainian government websites

About 70 websites linked to the Ukrainian government were hit by a massive hacker attack on Friday. The websites briefly displayed a message in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish with threatening messages. Among other things, he said, “Everything on your computer has been deleted and cannot be recovered. All personal information has been published, so be afraid and fear the worst.”

The hacked sites are, for example, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of the Environment, a body that records vaccinations and identity documents.

Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, wrote on Twitter that the police had launched an investigation to find out who was behind this.

https://twitter.com/OlegNikolenko_/status/1481880668195983362

– He said, according to Reuters, that it is too early to draw any conclusions, but there is a long history of Russian attacks on Ukraine.

Website attack After a week of various diplomatic summits with Russia. On Monday, representatives of the United States and Russia met in Geneva for bilateral talks. Discussions continued on Wednesday between NATO and Russia in Brussels and the following day in the framework of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the attack on Friday.

“In the coming days, NATO and Ukraine will sign an agreement on strengthening cyber cooperation, including giving Ukraine access to NATO’s malware-sharing platform.” Stoltenberg wrote in a statement.

Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Lind He reacts with concern to the events in Ukraine.

This kind of hybrid or cyber attack is exactly one of the things we have been warned about and afraid of. It’s also something that raises tensions, says Anne Lindy, after a meeting in Brest, France, with EU foreign ministers.

She says this is not the first time that Ukraine has been attacked by hackers. The European Union promises to support the country with the resources it has.

– If Ukraine wants, the country itself is very good at cyber issues, we are willing to align with different parts to strengthen its resilience against cyberattacks and learn more information about the attack, says Ann Lindy.

European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell, who also attended the meeting in Brest, has a similar message.

“We have a rapid reaction cyber force to deal with this type of attack and we will call it up,” Borrell says.

The foreign minister does not want to say who he thinks is behind the attack. At least not straight.

I can’t point a finger at anyone because I don’t have evidence. But you can guess, Burrell says.

Russia recently denied responsibility for hacker attacks on Ukraine.

Swedish Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist (S) confirms that investigations are underway in Ukraine as to who was behind the attack. It also refers to Russia.

– I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case. He says they are working to undermine Ukraine, he says.

– This is the case in various hybrid scenarios, they try in different ways to contribute to the inconvenience of an entire society, undermining and weakening social functions and creating mistrust among the population towards central authorities and governments.

Hultqvist sees the attack as a deliberate act.

I put this Ukrainian attack on a direct link to the security policy event that we can see now.

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