"Ukraine’s Official Websites Hit by Massive Cyberattack Amid High Tensions With Russia"
Unknown hackers launched a cyberattack on Ukrainian government websites early Friday, blocking access and warning internet users to “expect the worst.” Officials say it is too early to tell who was behind the attacks. Viktor Zhora, deputy head of Ukraine’s state agency of special communication and information protection, said that “close to 70” federal and local government websites were attacked, and a “substantial portion” is up and working again. Viktor Zhora also stated that Ukrain is seeing increased cyber intrusions that appear to be intelligence collection for potential execution of a kinetic operation by the Russians. Earlier this month, Ukraine’s state security services said that they had blocked in December close to 60 cyberattacks “against information systems of state institutions.” These included malware and “web app attacks.” Officials stated that the hackers did not obtain the personal information of Ukrainians during the cyberattack. The cyberattack came immediately after a flurry of diplomatic efforts in Europe failed to resolve the mounting crisis over Russian demands for sweeping new security arrangements by the United States and NATO.