The number of DDoS attacks on companies in Russia in March increased by 1.5 times compared to February and by 8 times in annual terms, the Izvestia newspaper reported, citing a study by Kaspersky Lab. Average sustained attack increased from 12 minutes to 29 hours. The longest attack lasted 145 hours (more than 6 days), the company noted.
Experts said that in March, the greatest burden fell on banks: their share in the total volume of attacks doubled over the year, to 35%. 33% of the attacks were on government agencies, 9% on educational institutions, 3% on media sites, and another 20% on organizations from other areas.
Alexander Gutnikov, an expert on cybersecurity at Kaspersky Lab, explained to the publication that at the end of last year, specialists had already recorded record levels of attacker activity for that time, but now the figures have grown significantly. By indirect evidence, it can be seen that at the beginning of the wave of DDoS attacks, a large number of non-professional hackers participated in them, but over time their share decreased, and the attacks became more powerful, prepared and lengthy.
The Ministry of Digital Transformation told the publication that the number of DDoS attacks on government agencies has recently grown 10 times compared to last year. The complexity of such attacks is also growing, because many departments are blocking access to attacks from abroad. According to the ministry, the number of attacks has increased because attackers want to disrupt the availability of Russian digital resources and create reputational damage. Attack profiles are constantly being rebuilt, so government agencies and providers have to constantly rebuild protection profiles. In general, the situation with repelling attacks has stabilized significantly over the past month, the ministry added. The publication sent a request to Roskomnadzor.
Since the end of February, FinCERT has recorded an increase in the number of DDoS attacks on the information resources of banks, but this did not lead to significant disruptions in the operation of services, the Central Bank reported. The regulator “constantly interacts with market participants on countering computer attacks.”
On the second day of Russia’s special operation in Ukraine, February 25, reports began to appear about massive DDoS attacks on the services of Russian government agencies and the media. The Ministry of Digital Transformation recorded more than 1 TB DDoS attacks and a number of professional targeted attacks on the public services portal. The Kremlin website also functioned intermittently, Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of President Vladimir Putin, told reporters. Roskosmos and other departments reported malfunctions in the site.