DDoS Attacks of Unprecedented Magnitude Hit Ukraine

The DDoS attacks that hit Ukrainian banks and ministries this week were of “unprecedented magnitude”. Never before in the country’s history has a digital attack sparked such disquiet on such a large scale, Ukrainian authorities say.

The cyberattacks, which also hit the website of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, started on Tuesday and continued on Wednesday. As a result, passport applications could not be processed, corona tickets were inaccessible, and ATMs no longer worked everywhere.

BNR reported on Wednesday that Dutch servers were also used in DDoS attacks. Ukraine’s Digital Affairs Minister Mychailo Fyodorov said the hackers wanted to cause “chaos” and “destabilization”. However, he stated that they were “well prepared”.

Ukrainian intelligence services say that given the scale, there is likely “a country” behind the attacks. It is not clear which country that would be. Ukraine has been said to have been hit by Russian hackers in the past. The Kremlin said it has “nothing to do” with Ukraine’s cyberattacks.