A massive overnight cyberattack on government websites in Ukraine has left large parts of the internet inaccessible, the Ministry of Education in Kiev announced on Friday.
A statement described the incident as a “worldwide attack.’’
The main Ukrainian Government website, the emergency services website and the websites of the Foreign Ministry and the Energy Ministry were all inaccessible on Friday.
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Ukrainian media reported that, following the attack, computer screens at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs displayed a notice in Russian, Polish and Ukrainian reading.
“All data on the computer has been destroyed, it is impossible to restore it.”
A police unit specialised in cyberattacks had begun an investigation into the attacks alongside the domestic intelligence service SBU.
The country’s cyberpolice, the Energy Ministry had announced.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the attack.
The State Service for Information Security stressed that no personal data belonging to Ukrainian citizens had been copied and that all publicly available online content had been preserved.
Some sites were taken offline for security reasons.
The aftermath of the attacks was still being felt midday on Friday.
EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said the attacks deserved “the greatest condemnation’’ and that EU ambassadors would meet on Friday to discuss how to offer Ukraine technical assistance.
Asked who was behind the attacks, Borrell said that it was not easy to say with any certainty.
“You can’t just point your finger at someone because I don’t have the proof, but we can imagine,’’ he told reporters at an EU foreign ministers meeting in France.
The last major cyberattack against state institutions in Ukraine was carried out in December 2016.
Ukrainian investigators regularly arrested domestic computer criminals. (dpa/NAN)
