Security News > 2022 > January > Ukraine shrugs off mass govt website defacement as world turns to stare at Russia
A "Massive" cyber attack on Ukraine caught the world's eye this morning as the country's foreign ministry said its website, among others, had been taken down by unidentified hackers.
Ukraine itself held off on attribution, with a foreign ministry spokesman telling the Reuters newswire it was too early to say who was responsible - but adding Russia has done similar things in the past.
The attack reportedly targeted 15 websites in Ukraine that used the PHP-based October content management system, and resulted in websites being defaced.
John Hultquist, Mandiant's veep of intelligence analysis, said in a canned statement: "Mass defacements of Ukrainian government sites are consistent with incidents we've seen in the past as tensions have grown in region. As far back as the invasion of Georgia in 2008 we saw a defacement of their Ministry of Foreign Affairs that juxtaposed the Georgian President with Hitler. As recently as 2019, Sandworm, GRU Unit 74455, carried out mass defacements in Georgia."
At the time of writing, Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website was inaccessible, with connection requests timing out.
Despite assurances from Western leaders and NATO commanders that Ukraine will not become a formal member of the counter-Russian alliance, Russia continues posturing, posing and making laughable demands.