For the fourth day in a row, the pro-Russian hackers' collective NoName057 carried out cyber-attacks on several Belgian government websites today. Websites of the Belgian banking federation Febelfin, the economy ministry and the Port of Antwerp-Zeebrugge were all taken offline. The website of the Belgian Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium too was attacked.
Belgium’s Cybersecurity website and other government websites taken down by pro-Russian hackers’ collective
Published:
In recent days several attacks on Belgian government websites and the websites of other Belgian bodies have been carried out. The pro-Russian hackers’ collective NoName057 is being linked to the ‘DDoS attacks’, during which servers are bombarded with requests and overloaded taking them offline. As a result, the websites become inaccessible for actual users.
NoName has been carrying out attacks on websites operating in countries that support Ukraine in its war against Russia. Belgium’s intention to purchase Caesar guns and donate them to Ukraine is believed to have triggered the recent attacks. The websites are not being hacked in order to steal information.
“No threat to the election”
Belgium goes to the polls on Sunday to elect new municipal and provincial councils. Flemish interior minister Hilde Crevits (Christian democrat/CD&V) indicated earlier this week that the cyber-attacks pose no threat to the elections next Sunday. ‘Voting computers are not connected to the internet and therefore cannot be hacked,’ she said.
There is not believed to be any danger of interference in the transmission of voting results. ‘We have taken several initiatives in the run-up to the elections to ensure the cyber security of the election software. We will also continue to monitor everything in the next few days and are in close contact with the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium,’ Ms Crevits said earlier this week.
The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium (CCB) also previously said that the attacks pose little danger.