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Ukraine says government websites hit by ‘massive cyberattack’

Ukraine said it was the target of a “large-scale cyber attack” after at least 10 government websites went down.

Friday morning’s targets included the websites of the cabinet, foreign affairs, education, agriculture, emergencies, energy, veterans and environment departments. There are also the websites of the state treasury and the country’s electronic public service platform Diia, which stores vaccination certificates and electronic passports.

“Ukrainians! All your personal data has been uploaded to the public network,” a notice posted temporarily on the State Department website. “All data on your computer is being erased and will not be recoverable. Everything about you has gone public, scared and expecting the worst.”

What happened after intense negotiation this week between the United States, NATO and its Western allies and Russia, to prevent Russian President Vladimir Putin from opting for a deeper invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian officials recently warned that cyberattacks and other attempts to destabilize the country’s interior could be a prelude to further aggression.

Authorities did not blame Russia or any other potential perpetrators for Friday’s cyberattack.

“As a result of a major cyber attack, the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and several other government agencies are temporarily down,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said. “Our experts are working to restore IT systems and the cyber police have opened an investigation.”

The message left by the hacker, posted in Ukrainian, Russian and Polish, added: “This is for your past, present and future. For Volyn, for OUN UPA [Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists/Ukrainian Insurgent Army], for Halychyna, for Polissya and for historical lands. ”

The comments at the bottom of the message refer to Ukraine’s rebel fighters during the second world war and appear to be punishing Ukraine for its ethnic clashes and atrocities. Poland and Ukraine accuse each other of atrocities during their period in a region where the two countries have jostled for centuries.

The hacker’s post also included blurred images of Ukraine’s national symbols, with horizontal lines on the country’s flag, coat of arms and maps.

It remains unclear whether the hackers were Polish or this was an attempt to incite division between Ukraine and Poland, one of Kyiv’s men strongest European allies before the Russian invasion.

Josep Borrell, Brussels’ top diplomat, said the EU’s political and security committee and cyber units would convene to see how to help Kyiv.

“We will mobilize all our resources to help Ukraine deal with this cyber attack. Sadly, we know it can happen,” Borrell was quoted as saying by Reuters at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brest, western France. “It’s hard to say [who is behind it]. I can’t blame anyone because I have no proof, but we can imagine. “

Ukraine’s state security service SBU said in a statement that “provocative messages were posted on the main pages of these websites”.

The SBU added: “The content of the websites has not been altered and the leak of personal data, according to preliminary information, has not occurred.

Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine’s national security director, late last year told the Financial Times that Ukraine has faced “constant” Russian cyberattacks and other attempts to destabilize the country since Moscow annexed Crimea in 2014 and orchestrated a proxy war of secession in its eastern regions.

“Destabilizing the country at home is the immediate goal” of Russia before unleashing a potential deeper military attack, he said, “first through cyberwarfare, triggering a crisis.” energy crisis and information warfare”.


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