The Kursk region in western Russia experienced a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on Thursday, which occurred at the same time as a reported Ukrainian counter-incursion across the border.
Regional authorities confirmed a “massive” cyberattack, reporting that government and business websites and key infrastructure services were temporarily disrupted. Internet monitoring organization NetBlocks also recorded sporadic internet disruptions in and around Kursk, indicating that DDoS traffic targeting local infrastructure was the likely cause.
At the height of the assault, Russia’s digital ministry reported that online services in Kursk were overwhelmed with more than 100,000 junk requests per second. While serious, that volume is smaller than some high-profile DDoS campaigns that have generated millions of requests per second.
The ministry said many of the IP addresses tied to the attack appeared to be registered in Germany and the United Kingdom, but noted that DDoS traffic is often routed through multiple intermediate servers, making the true origin difficult to determine.
Officials stated the attack was successfully repelled and emphasized that the attackers failed to damage e-government infrastructure or access user data. According to the ministry, sensitive information remained protected and countermeasures were implemented quickly to restore services.
No individual or organization has publicly claimed responsibility for the incident. Neither prominent Ukrainian hacktivist groups nor Ukrainian military intelligence have issued statements taking credit.
(Photo by Dmitry Burdakov)
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