Russian hacktivist group Killnet targeted the British Royal Family’s website in a DDoS cyberattack on October 2, 2023.
The cyberattack on Royal Family’s website did not impact the data or systems but the website was down for about half an hour and gave an “error” message.
Killnet Takes Responsibility for Cyberattack on Royal Family’s Website
Hacktivist group Killnet claimed to have carried out the cyberattack on the Royal Family’s website on its Telegram page. The claim is yet to be confirmed as the website has not accepted any such incident at the time of writing this report.
Killnet has also been named in a joint advisory of “Five Eyes” against cybercriminals in the previous year. Five Eyes is a group of intelligence agencies from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
This cyberattack on Royal Family’s website seems to fall in line with the UK Deputy PM Oliver Dowden’s warning to businesses in the UK.
The minister warned that Russia wants to “disrupt” and “destroy” the UK with cyberattacks, reports Sky News.
ABC News reported that it was evident that Killnet attacked ‘paedophiles’ and The British Prince Andrew, Duke of York, a man who was accused of molesting an American woman when she was seventeen, as a part of the attack.
About Killnet
Evidence indicates that Killnet has been active as early as 2022 before Russia invaded its neighboring country Ukraine.
One of the possible reasons is that the group was known for its distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks against countries backing Ukraine in the ongoing war, especially NATO member states, noted an analyst’s document released earlier this year by the Health Sector Cybersecurity.
Series of Events
In fact, it was less than a week before the Cyberattack on Royal Family’s website on Sunday that King Charles II of Great Britain made statements in Paris at a meeting with the French Senate for Ukraine.
“Horrifying” is how he described Russia’s “military aggression”.
“Together, we are unwavering in our determination that Ukraine will triumph and our cherished freedoms will prevail,” Charles stated in his remarks on September 21, reported ABC.
Killnet, Increasing Cyberattacks and the Need to be Cyber Secure
According to Express.co.uk, KillMilk leads the Russian DDoS hacktivist group Killnet. KillNet, famous for organizing DDoS against nations allied with Ukraine and mainly NATO countries since the start of the war last year in February, began to launch similar assaults on other targeted countries.
In response to the passage of the European Parliament resolution branding Moscow as a “State Sponsor of Terror” by the European Parliament in November of last year, the European Parliament website was also targeted by a cyber raid attributed to Killnet.
The cyberattack on Royal family’s website by the hacktivist group Killnet, is evidence that cyber security threats are present all the time for both individual and organizational targets.
The act resulted in a momentary interruption of the website’s accessibility, but it was not so significant either in terms of damage to data and system breaches; however, it sends chilling signals regarding the possibilities of digital domain vulnerability as well.
It is noteworthy that the cyberattack on Royal Family’s website took place in the midst of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, which emphasizes the immense significance of cultivating a society of cyber awareness and alertness.
In order to preserve our online identity as we traverse through the digital world and beyond, we need to be active. The Emergence of Hacktivist Groups; Killnet, calls for concerted efforts in building our cyber walls as well as keeping abreast with new dangers.
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