EU hit by cyber attack from pro-Kremlin’s group Killnet

A "sophisticated" hack on the European Parliament website on Wednesday caused service disruptions just seconds after MEPs voted to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

The attack is a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack, in which servers are bombarded with a large quantity of traffic in an effort to prevent internet users from accessing websites.

Hacking organisations employ DDoS assaults to disrupt communications and create havoc. This became a go-to tool for Russian hacktivist organisations like Killnet, particularly as a means of protest against political decisions made in European nations to help Ukraine in the conflict. 

In fact, European Union Vice President Eva Kaili told Politico that the EU has a strong indication this hack is from Killnet. 

Belgium's national cybersecurity centre also confirmed that there's an investigation at EU level but couldn't provide further information on the matter.

The European Parliament's website was attacked just hours after the parliament voted on Wednesday to pass a resolution designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

On Twitter, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said that a pro-Kremlin group has claimed responsibility for the attack. 

However, EU IT experts are doing a good job pushing back against it & protecting all network systems. 

“This, after we proclaimed Russia as a State-sponsor of terrorism. My response: #SlavaUkraini,” concluded Metsola.