Russia and Ukraine trade cyber-attacks in face of tensions

Ukrainian security experts have accused the Russian army of launching cyber-attacks that have disrupted mobile communications.

Mobile networks were targeted on Tuesday, blocking the phone service of members of the Ukrainian parliament, after the installation of equipment at Ukrtelecom in Crimea. News websites have also been defaced in small-scale attacks.

Similar attacks from Ukraine or Ukrainian patriots have been launched in retaliation. Cyber-Berkut, a Ukrainian hacking group, has posted a list of websites it attacked since the tension began. Russian security experts have not commented on the communications disruptions.

Cyber-attacks played an important part in Russia’s 2008 conflict with Georgia, when distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were used weeks in advance of military action to cripple communications.