Kyiv had already been the target of massive hacks in January and on February 15, and in both cases, he accused Russia of being behind them.
“At approximately 4:00 p.m. local time, another massive DDoS (denial of service) attack began in our state,” he wrote on his official Telegram social network account.
According to Fedorov, “several banks have been affected, and there are also problems with access to the websites of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament), the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.
The page of the Parliament has been restored shortly after, the minister specified.
The state portal and mobile application “Diia” “successfully overcame the current attack and continue to function in a stable manner,” it added.
Ukraine already suffered massive cyberattacks in January and on February 15, in which it saw Russia’s footprint, as did the US.
The one in the middle of the month was, according to the department headed by Fedorov, the largest cyberattack in the country’s history.
It was also a DDoS attack against state websites and the banking sector.
The high-ranking official indicated that it was an attack prepared in advance and whose cost “amounts to millions of dollars.”
“The objective was to destabilize the situation and unleash panic,” he said.
The head of the cybersecurity department of the Security Council of Ukraine (SBU), Ilya Vityuk, noted that the high cost of such an operation rules out the possibility of a lone hacker or a small group acting.
“These types of attacks are carried out by States through intelligence services and specially created infrastructure. We clearly see the footprint of foreign intelligence services, ”she indicated.
