Russian government sites facing unprecedented cyberattacks: report

[MOSCOW] Russian government websites are facing unprecedented cyberattacks, and technical efforts are being made to filter foreign Web traffic, the TASS news agency cited the digital ministry as saying on Thursday (Mar 17).

Russian government entities and state-owned companies have been targeted over events in Ukraine, with the websites of the Kremlin, flagship carrier Aeroflot and major lender Sberbank among those to have seen outages or temporary access issues in recent weeks.

The ministry was working to adjust to the new conditions, it said, as cyberattacks ratchet up. "If previously their power at peak moments reached 500 gigabytes, then now it is at 1 terabyte," the ministry said."That is 2 to 3 times more powerful than the most serious incidents of this kind that have been previously reported."

As Russia becomes increasingly isolated from global financial systems and supply chains, the government has proposed a raft of measures to support the information technology (IT) sector, among others.

Technology firms will have access to preferential tax and lending conditions, and the digital ministry has previously suggested Russian IT companies discuss a phased transfer of technical support components with foreign firms.

Citing draft government documents, Interfax reported late on Wednesday that the digital ministry had proposed allocating 14 billion roubles (S$182.3 million) to support IT companies in the form of grants. Reuters could not immediately verify that report. REUTERS