Estonia Blames Russia for Cyber Attacks

TALLINN, Estonia — Estonian websites have been under heavy attack for the last three weeks, and authorities are blaming Russia for playing a part in the cyber warfare.

The Estonian government has said that its state and commercial websites, including a number of banks, are being bombarded by mass requests for information which are overwhelming their computer servers. Other targets of the "denial-of-service attacks" have included the Estonian foreign and defense ministries and leading newspapers and banks.

Officials have cut access to some servers from outside Estonia to prevent them from being attacked.

Estonian authorities said the attacks began after a Soviet war memorial in Tallinn was removed, an action that was condemned by the Kremlin.

Many of the attacks have come from Russia and are being hosted by Russian state computer servers, according to Tallinn officials. Moscow has denied any involvement.

A NATO spokesman said the organization was giving Estonia technical help.

"In the 21st century it's not just about tanks and artillery," NATO spokesman James Appathurai told BBC News. "We have sent one of our experts at the request of the Estonian authorities to help them in their defense."

Mikhail Tammet, head of IT security at Estonia's defense ministry, told the BBC that the attacks had affected a range of government websites, including those of the parliament and governmental institutions. He said Estonia was particularly vulnerable as much of its government is run online.

"Estonia depends largely on the Internet. We have e-government; government is so-called paperless ... all the bank services are on the Internet. We even elect our parliament via the Internet," Mr Tammet said.

"In the past few weeks it has been quite difficult for some government officials to read their emails on the web and to get access to the banks."

The Estonian defense ministry said that the cyber attacks have come from all over the world, but some have been hosted by Russian state servers, and that instructions on how to carry out cyber warfare are circulating on Russian websites.

Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip has directly accused Russia of being responsible, pointing the blame at the Russian government. Internet experts from NATO and the European Union are helping to track down the culprits, but Estonian officials said that they have had no cooperation from Russia.

Russia — which has a large community of hackers and computer virus-writers — has been accused of mounting such attacks before in the U.S. and Ukraine. Moscow denies any involvement in the Internet attacks on Estonia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the BBC that the allegations were "completely untrue."

Copyright © 2024 Adnet Media. All Rights Reserved. XBIZ is a trademark of Adnet Media.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission is prohibited.

More News

CAM4 Debuts Weekly 'Skyy Knox's CAM Crawl' Livestream

CAM4 is launching "Skyy Knox’s CAM Crawl," a new livestream running every Sunday at 3 p.m. PDT.

Texas Judge Pauses AG Ken Paxton's Aylo Lawsuit Until SCOTUS Decision

A Texas district judge granted a request Wednesday to pause proceedings in the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton against Aylo over its implementation of Texas’ controversial age verification requirements for Pornhub, pending the outcome of the Free Speech Coalition-led lawsuit against Paxton, which will be heard by the Supreme Court during the next term.

Author of UN Report Recommending Worldwide Criminalization of Sex Work, Porn to Speak at NCOSE Summit

Jordanian activist Reem Alsalem, a special rapporteur on violence against women and girls at the United Nations Human Rights Council who recently issued a controversial report recommending that governments abolish all forms of sex work, including porn, will speak at anti-porn lobby NCOSE’s 2024 summit in August.

Spicey AI Voice Chat Platform Launches

Spicey AI, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to create interactive voice messages from chatbots based on adult performers, has launched.

Utherverse to Host 8th Annual VirtualCon in September

Virtual reality and metaverse technology company Utherverse will hold the eighth edition of its annual virtual conference, VirtualCon, from Sept. 26-28.

Pornhub Shuts Down Access in Nebraska Over Age Verification

Aylo began blocking access to Pornhub in Nebraska on Monday, in anticipation of the state’s new age verification law — one of many such bills promoted by religious conservatives around the country — which is scheduled to go into effect Thursday.

FeelMe AI Launches 3 New Subscription Tiers

FeelMe AI has launched three new subscription levels, allowing users to connect compatible Kiiroo sex toys to their videos for interactive solo play.

CamSoda Launches AI Girlfriend Builder

CamSoda has debuted a personalized "AI girlfriend" feature, which allows users to create their very own virtual companion at no charge, including free NSFW role-play and chat.

Free Speech Organization Comes Out in Support of Wisconsin Professor Who Posted on OnlyFans

After a University of Wisconsin-La Crosse faculty tribunal recommended stripping veteran professor of communications Joe Gow of tenure last week due to Gow having unremorsefully created and appeared in adult content, a major free speech organization has come out in his support.

MojoHost Unveils Public Cloud Service MojoCompute

MojoHost has launched MojoCompute, a new cloud service, as the central component of its MojoCloud product offerings.

Show More