Russian Government Sites Said to Be Facing Unprecedented Cyber Attacks

Russian government entities and state-owned companies have been targeted over the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

By Reuters | Updated: 17 March 2022 17:13 IST

Russian Government Sites Said to Be Facing Unprecedented Cyber Attacks

Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian websites have been targeted over the conflict in Ukraine

Highlights

Russia's digital ministry is working to adjust to increased cyberattacks
The country has been isolated from global financial systems
Russia is also working to support the IT sector in the country

Russian government websites are facing unprecedented cyber attacks and technical efforts are being made to filter foreign web traffic, the TASS news agency cited the digital ministry as saying on Thursday. Russian government entities and state-owned companies have been targeted over events in Ukraine, with the websites of the Kremlin, flagship carrier Aeroflot and major lender Sberbank among those to have seen outages or temporary access issues in recent weeks.

The ministry was working to adjust to the new conditions, it said, as cyber attacks ratchet up.

"If previously their power at peak moments reached 500 gigabytes, then now it is at 1 terabyte," the ministry said. "That is two to three times more powerful than the most serious incidents of this kind that have been previously reported."

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As Russia becomes increasingly isolated from global financial systems and supply chains, the government has proposed a raft of measures to support the IT sector, among others.

Technology firms will have access to preferential tax and lending conditions and the digital ministry has previously suggested Russian IT companies discuss a phased transfer of technical support components with foreign firms.

Citing draft government documents, Interfax reported late on Wednesday that the digital ministry had proposed allocating RUB 14 billion (roughly Rs. 1,000 crore) to support IT companies in the form of grants.

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Reuters could not immediately verify that report.

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