Russian video platform Rutube inaccessible following a powerful cyberattack
Rutube, which wants to be a competitor of the American giant YouTube, was inaccessible this morning, victim of “the biggest cyberattack in its history”the company announced in a press release published on Telegramstating that the restoration of access to the Russian video platform ” will take[it] longer than the engineers initially thought”.
A black screen appeared on the Rutube.ru site on Tuesday morning, accompanied by the description in white characters: “Maintenance work is ongoing. The site has been attacked. Currently, the situation is under control. User data is saved. » According to Rutube, the site has been inaccessible since Monday, the day Russia celebrated May 9, which marks the 1945 victory over the Nazis, in particular justifying its invasion of Ukraine. Rutube blames the attack on the same hackers who “constantly attacked the sites of Russian public institutions for the past two months”following the outbreak of the Russian offensive on 24 February.
For his part, Mykhaïlo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, reacted to Telegram to Rutube’s press release: “The depropaganda continues. It’s not a cyberattack, it’s a special operation to improve your IT infrastructure. »
On Monday, Ukrainian media also reported, with photos, a hacking of the broadcast systems of Russian television channels MTS, NTV-Plus, Rostelecom and Winx to display the message: “The blood of thousands of Ukrainians and hundreds of their killed children is on your hands. Television and the authorities lie. No to war. »
A long text denouncing the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, “bloody and absurd”was also published on Monday morning by two journalists from the Lenta.ru news site, considered loyal to the Russian authorities, before being quickly removed. “We are now looking for work, lawyers, and maybe political asylum”wrote its authors, Egor Poliakov and Alexandra Miroshnikova.
