Government websites targeted in cyberattack by pro-Russian collective
Several government websites in Belgium were targeted by a cyberattack on Monday morning. The hackers responsible justified their actions by citing Belgium’s support for Ukraine and implied a threat to disrupt Sunday’s local elections.
According to reports on social media, the websites of the provinces of Limburg, Liège, East Flanders, Flemish Brabant and Walloon Brabant were among those targeted, as were those of the city of Antwerp and the Chamber of Representatives.
On its Telegram channel, the pro-Russian NoName057 collective referred to Belgium’s donation of weapons to Ukraine.
“The Belgian government will soon be examining a proposal to purchase and transfer three Caesar artillery units to Ukraine,” it said. “We have decided to pay a visit to Russophobic Belgium to show them how initiatives in support of the criminal regime in Kyiv end.”
Announced in advance
The attack was a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, in which servers are bombarded with requests, causing them to become overloaded and inaccessible to real users.
“The collective announces its attacks in advance on its website,” said Katrien Eggers of the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium. “We contacted those targeted so they could initiate their anti-DDoS measures.”
While most sites are fully back online, the CCB expects there could still be some disruption in the coming hours, depending on the strength of the attack and the measures the targeted websites are able to take.
In its post, the collective added: “On Sunday 13 October, Belgium will hold important elections: citizens will choose their local councillors.”
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