Websites belonging to a number of Ukrainian government ministries on Friday have been hit by what is believed to be a cyberattack.
“Due to the global attack on the night of January 14 to 14, 2022 the official website of the ministry of Education and Science temporarily does not work,” the Ministry of Education posted on its official Facebook page.
According to government sources, websites belonging to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State Emergencies Service and cabinet ministers were also affected.
Message posted on Foreign Ministry site
It was not immediately clear who could be behind the attack, although a specialized policing unit has begun working to uncover the possible source.
Ukrainian media reported that an announcement posted in Russian, Polish and Ukrainian had initially appeared on the landing page of the Foreign Affairs Ministry which read: “Ukrainian! All your personal data has been uploaded to a shared network. All data on your computer is destroyed, it is impossible to restore it.”
The message then mentioned historic regions in central and eastern Europe, while referencing a Ukrainian extremist organization called the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalsts (OUN UPA), which is banned in the Russian Federation.
A spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Oleg Nikolenko, said it was to soon to assign blame, but added that there had been a history of Russian involvement in similar incidents.
“It’s too early to draw conclusions, but there is a long record of Russian assaults against Ukraine in the past,” Nikolenko said.
The European Union said that it was rallying “all its resources” to help Kyiv following the breach.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the attack “merits condemnation” and that an urgent meeting involving the EU’s security committee would take place.
kb/dj (dpa, Interfax, Reuters)
Ukraine government websites hacked in ‘global attack’
Source: Pinoy Pop News
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