MAKHACHKALA, July 18 (RIA Novosti) – Taking North Caucasus instability to cyberspace, unidentified hackers have brought down several websites of the local administration of Russia’s Republic of Dagestan, an official said Thursday.
About a dozen websites, including for the republic’s government and its president, have been targeted in recent days by distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, state spokesman Magomedbek Akhmedov told RIA Novosti. DDoS attacks overload servers with access requests, causing them to shut down.
The attacks began last week but had not been previously reported, Akhmedov said, adding that the websites were expected to resume normal functioning on Friday.
The hackers were operating via computers based in Canada and the United Arab Emirates, the spokesman said. He gave no information about the perpetrators’ identities or motives.
Media had earlier reported that several local state-run and independent news websites were also targeted, but only one outlet, state-run television VGTRK Dagestan, confirmed that when contacted by RIA Novosti.
Dagestan is currently the main hotbed of the North Caucasus Islamist insurgency, with separatists mostly focusing their attacks on local law enforcement officials. Fifty-nine servicemen were killed in the republic during spring this year, according to regional news site Kavkaz-uzel.ru.
