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Ukraine Suffers Largest Denial-of-Service Attack in Its History, Official Says

Sora Shimazaki / pixels

Ukraine has suffered the largest denial-of-service attack in its history, the country’s digital transformation minister said Wednesday. 

“The largest DDoS attack in Ukraine's history took place yesterday,” RBC Ukraine quoted Minister Mykhailo Fyodorov as saying at an inter-agency briefing. 

Ukraine's communications watchdog had said Tuesday that the websites of the country's defense ministry and armed forces, as well as two state banks, had been hit by a cyberattack of possibly Russian origin. 

Ukraine’s defense ministry said the “unprecedented” attack continued into Wednesday. 

The Kremlin has denied involvement. 

That attack was reported the same day that Moscow announced a partial pullout of troops from the Ukrainian border amid its tense standoff with the West over NATO's presence in eastern Europe.

Western governments, which have warned that cyberattacks could precede a Russian invasion of Ukraine, met the troop withdrawal announcement with skepticism. 

U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that Washington and NATO were coordinating bolstering defenses in cyberspace. 

Unnamed U.S. and European officials told Reuters they were prepared to respond to cyberattacks — including physical or cyberattacks on servers involved — depending on their scope. But the officials suggested the allies do not have a detailed response plan.

“There's no detailed roadmap for what do in the event of a cyberattack,” Reuters quoted a European diplomat as saying.

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