This content was published on August 21, 2024 – 6:08 PM
(Keystone-ATS) A “massive outage” affected the Telegram and WhatsApp messaging services in Russia for an hour on Wednesday, reported the Russian telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor, according to which a computer “attack” was at the origin of this rare “incident”.
“Since 2:00 p.m. (local time), the Public Communications Network Control and Monitoring Center has recorded a massive outage of the Telegram and WhatsApp messaging services,” Roskomnadzor said in a laconic statement.
A few minutes later, the Russian telecoms watchdog indicated that these disruptions were linked to “a DDoS attack against Russian telecoms operators”.
DDoS attacks, or “denial of service” attacks, are a relatively simple method of bringing down a system by overwhelming it with requests.
“As of 3:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT), the attack was repelled and services are operating normally,” Roskomnadzor said in this second statement, which did not identify the author of this cyberattack.
Such a computer incident is rare in Russia.
Since the start of its assault on Ukraine in February 2022, the Kremlin has significantly strengthened its grip on the digital sector, which has been heavily affected by Western sanctions.
The Russian government has also tightened its control over the internet, banning a number of Western sites and social networks where Kremlin critics could express themselves freely, such as Facebook, Instagram and X.
However, these resources remain accessible from Russia using a VPN.
YouTube has never been blocked, but rumors of its ban resurface regularly, especially since in March 2022, Roskomnadzor accused YouTube and Google, the platform’s owner, of “terrorist” activities.
Since February 2022, kyiv has been repeatedly targeted by large-scale cyberattacks, particularly against its government websites. The authorities regularly claim to have evidence of Moscow’s involvement, which Moscow denies.
