KillNet threat group deployed DDoS on German airport websites

January 31, 2023
KillNet Threat Group Russian Hackers DDoS Germany Airport Government Websites Service Disruption

Russia’s KillNet threat group struck German airports, banks, and administration infrastructure websites with distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

According to researchers, numerous websites owned by airports in Germany have suffered cyberattacks executed by an alleged Russian hacking group. Moreover, administration bodies and the country’s financial sector also experienced similar attacks last week.

A spokesperson of AFP revealed that Germany’s Federal Cyber Security Authority (BSI) is already aware of the DDoS attacks against their country.

They explained that threat actors develop a distributed denial-of-service attack to overpower the target with a flood of internet traffic. This strategy could allow the attackers to prevent the targeted system from functioning efficiently.

The spokesperson added that the attacks were specifically aimed at the websites of airports, Germany’s financial sector, and the websites of the federal and state administrations.

 

Russia’s KillNet threat group claimed the attack after disclosing it to the Federal Cyber Security Authority.

 

The DDoS attacks against German websites were executed by the KillNet threat group, implying that the campaign was a targeted attack to disrupt operations.

The group said they launched the distributed denial-of-service in response to Germany’s announcement last week that they will send tanks to Ukraine. These tanks will aid the Ukrainians in fending off the Russian invaders, which the Russian hackers did not want.

However, the BSI representative stated that they had difficulty attributing the attacks to the KillNet group since it could be any other group from Russia or pro-Russian hackers.

The distributed denial-of-service attacks caused massive disruptions to its targets, and numerous websites became unavailable. In addition, the attacks did not indicate if they directly impacted the organisations that owned the compromised websites.

Fortunately, experts claimed that the attacks on public administration could cause no severe impacts on the entity.

The interior ministry for southwestern Baden-Wuerttemberg state admitted that their region has been under an ongoing DDoS attack since last week. Germany is currently on red alert for cyberattacks that might have strong connections to the current geopolitical conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

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