Today there is another cyber attack by the pro-Russian hacker collective NoName057 targeting Belgian targets.
Update 10/10/2024 4 p.m.: For the fourth day in a row, the pro-Russian hacker collective is shutting down government websites. Today, among others, the websites of Center for Cybersecurity (CCB), Febelfin, FOD Economie and the Port of Antwerp-Zeebrugge are regularly offline due to DDoS attacks.
With the elections coming up this weekend, the timing is not coincidental. “We have taken several initiatives in the run-up to the elections to ensure the cyber security of the election software,” Crevits told Vrtnws earlier this week. “We will also continue to monitor everything in the coming days and are in close contact with the Center for Cybersecurity Belgium.”
Original: 09/10/2024 8am: The hackers shut down several Belgian websites with a DDoS attack, including sites of Sint-Genesius-Rode and Linkebeek. Websites of the ports of Antwerp and Zeebrugge also went temporarily offline, Belga knows.
Adam Marre, former FBI agent and CISO at Arctic Wolf, recognizes the pattern. “This attack fits closely with the tactics Russia uses to destabilize governments and organizations, especially in times of elections. The timing of the attack, just before Sunday’s elections in our country, fits perfectly into this pattern.” He stressed that all Western governments should be wary of escalations of such attacks.
What is the point of a DDoS attack?
A DDoS attack involves sending a huge amount of Internet traffic to a website in order to overload it and take it offline temporarily. So the goal is not to steal personal data, but this cyber attack is purely to crash important websites.
Protection against such a Distributed Denial-of-Service attack is quite difficult, because it is very easy to execute. Very dangerous these attacks are not, but they can cause a loss of website visitors or image damage. The Center for Cybersecurity Belgium continuously monitors cybercriminals and their strategies to counter similar actions.
NoName057 targets allies of Ukraine, including Belgium. Earlier this week, our country was already hit by a similar cyber attack. Then the websites of the province of Limburg and East Flanders were affected, as well as the site of De Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers, the Walloon government and city of Antwerp.