Russian military hackers were behind a spate of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks that briefly knocked Ukrainian banking and government websites offline, the United States and the United Kingdom said on Friday.
US deputy national security adviser Anne
Neuberger told journalists at the White House that Washington was seeking to
hold Russia to account for its aggressive moves in cyberspace.
"Russia likes to move in the shadows
and counts on a long process of attribution," Neuberger said. "In
light of that, we're moving quickly to attribute the DDoS attacks. We believe
the Russian government is responsible for widespread attacks on Ukrainian banks
this week."
Neuberger said that Americans have data
showing that infrastructure connected with Russia's military agency, generally
known as the GRU, "was seen transmitting high volumes of communication to
Ukraine-based IP addresses and domains."
In a simultaneous announcement, British
officials said the GRU was "almost certainly involved" in the DDoS,
which works by flooding targeted websites with a firehose of data.
"The attack showed a continued
disregard for Ukrainian sovereignty," Britain's Foreign Commonwealth and
Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement. "This activity is yet
another example of Russia's aggressive acts against Ukraine."
"This disruptive behaviour is
unacceptable," the FCDO said.
Russia has denied any role in the DDoS,
which inflicted relatively limited disruption on Tuesday.
Kyiv had already blamed Moscow for the DDoS
amid heightened tensions since Russia began massing troops near the border,
raising fears Russia was planning to attack. The Kremlin has denied it plans to
push deeper into the country.
Neuberger said that while the denial of
service had "limited impact," the recent spate of malicious digital
activity could be a prelude to "more disruptive cyberattacks accompanying
a potential further invasion of Ukraine's sovereign territory." © Reuters