"Putin Speech Interrupted by DDoS Attack"

On Tuesday, a suspected distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack downed several websites broadcasting President Putin's state of the nation address.  Reuters said journalists based in multiple locations were unable to access the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) website or the Smotrim live-streaming platform for periods during the speech.  The RIA Novosti news agency reportedly claimed malicious online actors were to blame, while a Twitter account linked to the IT Army of Ukraine confirmed the same.  The IT Army of Ukraine said they launched a DDoS attack on channels showing Putin's address to the federal assembly: 1TV, VGTRK, and Smotrim.  The IT Army is a hacktivist group founded at the start of the war after calls from Ukrainian vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov for supporters to help attack Russian targets.  It selects these targets and then publicizes them to a Telegram group.  Russian hacktivists have also been busy, notably Killnet.  The group has claimed responsibility for some fairly significant targets in the past year, including 14 US airports, several Lithuanian and Japanese government websites, and US and Dutch hospitals.  Killnet ties to the Russian government are unconfirmed but likely.

Infosecurity reports: "Putin Speech Interrupted by DDoS Attack"