Multiple UK Council Websites Hit by DDoS Attacksby Pro-Russia Group

• Multiple UK council websites have been affected by a series of DDoS attacks, rendering them temporarily out of service.
• Several other smaller organizations and banks have also been targeted later. Thankfully, no confidential data has been compromised.
• A pro-Russian group called NoName057(16) has claimed responsibility for the attack. This is retaliation for the UK's renewed support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion.

Several UK council websites were hit by a series of DDoS (Distributed Denial-of-Service) attacks launched by pro-Russian cyber groups. Thankfully, no confidential data has been compromised.

The attacks began on Tuesday last week. The victims include the websites of Keighley, Salford, Tameside, Trafford, Bradford, and Eastleigh.

It's worth noting that Eastleigh and Trafford's websites remained inaccessible on Wednesday. Salford's site was also down up until Wednesday afternoon after which it was reinstated, but technical difficulties continued to linger.

On Thursday last week, an updated list was released that revealed more victims whose websites were disrupted. This includes the football club Tottenham Hotspu, council websites of Medway, Middlesbrough, and Hastings, and sites of various other small organizations and banks.

Two of the victims - Hastings and BCP - were the only ones who confirmed that they were hit by DDoS attacks. Although the rest did not deny a connection between their website outage and DDoS attacks, they didn't fully attribute it to be the main reason either.

For better understanding, DDoS attacks include flooding a site with malicious traffic to temporarily put it out of service. Although it's not the most sophisticated form of attack out there, it can undoubtedly cause significant disruption.

The NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre) has already been informed about the attacks and it has confirmed that its providing assistance to the affected websites.

Organizations are encouraged to familiarize themselves with our actionable Denial of Service guidance to support the prevention and mitigation of such attacks," it said.

More About the Attacker

The group behind the attacks has been identified as NoName057(16). It's a pro-Russia group whose favorite way to target its victims is through, well, DDoS attacks. They even have an X account where they openly post about their plans.

Now, the question is: why is this group attacking UK councils out of the blue? The answer is the UK's renewed support for Ukraine against Russia's invasion.

NonName057(16) identifies itself as a hacktivist group and was established shortly after the Russia-Ukraine war started. Its main purpose is to attack anyone that funds Ukraine's fight against Russia.

The members of the group mostly operate through Telegram where their leader will send them instructions with news links. For example, the leader might send them a news link saying X country imposed sanctions on Russia or Y country arrested their group members. So, the job of the rest of the group members will be to take revenge.

For example, in July, the Spanish authorities arrested some members of the group. So, in retaliation, the other members disrupted the websites of major seaports around the country.

The only silver lining here is that their attack technique doesn't leave lasting effects. Sure, DDoS attacks can be disruptive and inconvenient, but they don't have any lasting security or technical consequences.

Read more: How to Efficiently Create DDoS-resistant Infrastructure

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