Tue 6 December 2022:
VTB, the state-owned, second largest bank in Russia, has reported the largest cyberattack in its history.
Officials said the bank was repelling the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, in which hackers attempt to flood a network with unusually high volumes of data traffic in order to paralyse it. VTB said access to its mobile app and website could be hindered.
Russian government entities and state-owned companies have been targeted over events in Ukraine, with the websites of the Kremlin, flagship carrier Aeroflot and major lender Sberbank among those to have seen outages or temporary access issues.
DDoS attacks target online services and websites and overwhelm them with massive volumes of traffic that the server or network cannot accommodate.
The main goal behind such attacks is to create problems for the business by making their website inoperable. The disruption also causes issues for individual users, who are prevented from accessing the services they require.
According to VTB, the majority of the malicious traffic used in the attack originated outside Russia, although some requests came from Russian IP addresses.
Last week, it emerged that threat actors have been targeting Russian organisations with a new strain of malware designed to erase all data on a compromised computer.
Russian news website Izvestia said the wiper, which masquerades as ransomware, was used in attacks on Russian mayor’s offices and courts.
Meanwhile, attacks on websites and infrastructure in Lithuania, Norway, and the United States this year have been attributed to or claimed by pro-Russian hackers.
Also last month, a ‘sophisticated’ cyberattack on the European Parliament website caused service disruptions moments after members voted to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said a pro-Kremlin group had claimed responsibility for the attack.
Earlier this year, researchers discovered the HermeticWiper malware on many Ukrainian organisations’ networks, hours before Russia invaded.
Microsoft said in a June report that Russia was targeting countries supporting Ukraine – especially the USA and Poland – in the ongoing war.
Since the start of the war, Microsoft has identified more than 100 organisations in 42 countries that have been impacted by the attacks. Over 60% of the activity targeted entities in NATO states and the USA was the main country targeted, accounting for 12% of the worldwide total.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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