Army websites were also targeted, in the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
Several official Ukrainian military websites and two public banks have been targeted by a cyberattack, the Ukrainian authorities announced on Tuesday evening, in the midst of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.
The government’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security pointed to the “aggressor” – a phrase commonly used to refer to Russia – in a statement posted on Facebook.
The attack targeted the websites of the Ministry of Defense and the country’s armed forces, which were inaccessible, as well as the banks Privatbank and Ochtchabank, whose online services were disrupted.
This new incident comes at a time when intense diplomatic exchanges and the threat of sanctions led Russia, suspected of preparing an invasion of Ukraine, to announce on Tuesday the withdrawal of some of its military units massed on the borders of this country, officially for maneuvers.
Westerners welcomed this announcement as a positive sign but stressed waiting for it to be followed up.
A large computer attack targeting strategic Ukrainian infrastructure in order to disrupt the authorities is one of the scenarios mentioned as being the harbinger of a classic military offensive.
In January, Ukraine was already targeted by a major cyberattack once morest a number of government sites. Authorities then claimed to have evidence of Russian involvement.
