"Internet Disruptions, Cyberattacks Hit Ukraine Following Russian Missile Strikes"
Ukraine's Internet and mobile communications were disrupted due to Russian missile strikes that caused widespread power outages. According to Cloudflare data, Internet availability in the country was 35 percent lower than usual. Authorities have asked Ukrainians to limit their use of mobile communications and electricity because the missile attacks on Ukrainian cities have damaged much of the country's telecommunications infrastructure and energy facilities. The Ukrainian energy sector is one of the most vulnerable to Russian cyber and physical attacks. Even before the full-fledged invasion, Ukraine was bracing for large-scale Russian cyberattacks on its energy systems. However, the missile strikes have produced similar results. In September, Ukrainian cybersecurity officials stated that Russia was planning "massive cyberattacks" against Ukraine's energy sector to amplify the impact of missile strikes. Russia may use its previous experience in attacking Ukraine's energy systems, according to Ukraine's Defense Intelligence. In 2015, Russia's BlackEnergy malware knocked out power to roughly half of the homes in Ukraine's Ivano-Frankivsk region for a few hours, and in 2016, Russia used Industroyer malware to attack Ukraine's power grid, knocking out power to a part of the capital, Kyiv. Following the missile strikes, pro-Russian hackers launched Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks against the Ukrainian mobile bank Monobank, sending 6 million requests per minute. This article continues to discuss the Internet disruptions and launched DDoS attacks experienced by Ukraine following Russian missile strikes.