Security News > 2022 > February > White House pins Ukraine DDoS attacks on Russian GRU hackers

White House pins Ukraine DDoS attacks on Russian GRU hackers
2022-02-18 21:33

Today, the White House has linked the recent DDoS attacks that knocked down the sites of Ukrainian banks and defense agencies to Russia's Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.

Neuberger also added that, although "Of limited impact" these incidents could be part of a more significant Russian effort to prepare for other, "Laying groundwork" for more disruptive attacks that would come together with a potential invasion of Ukraine's territory.

The incidents Neubergerer refers to are DDoS attacks that targeted online services belonging to the Ukrainian military and state-owned bank websites earlier this week.

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Defense and the Armed Forces of Ukraine and two of the country's state-owned banks, Oschadbank and Privatbank, were taken down after being hammered by DDoS attacks.

"It's unsurprising to learn that the DDOS attacks in Ukraine were conducted by the GRU. Russia's military intelligence service is the most aggressive of its peers when it comes to cyberattacks and other activity in the sphere," John Hultquist, VP of Intelligence Analysis at Mandiant, told BleepingComputer.

"We have seen them carry out DDOS attacks on several occasions which they use to harass and undermine institutions. It's not unusual for incidents such as these to be nested within a larger campaign that can take many forms from hack and leak to serious destructive attack."


News URL

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/white-house-pins-ukraine-ddos-attacks-on-russian-gru-hackers/