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The attack on Wednesday took place before Prime
Minister Arseny Yatseniuk was due to meet with German Chancellor
Angela Merkel. The Russian group demanded Berlin end support for
the Ukrainian government.
"I strongly recommend that the Russian secret services stop
spending taxpayer money for cyberattacks against the Bundestag
and Chancellor Merkel's office," Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk
told ZDF TV when asked if pro-Russian hackers from Ukraine were
responsible.
The attack included web pages for Merkel and for the German
parliament. Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibbert, said
counter-measures were taken but failed to halt the attack, which
left the sites inaccessible from 10 a.m. Wednesday until the
evening.
In a statement on its website, a group calling itself
CyberBerkut claimed responsibility. "Berkut" refers to the riot
squads used by the government of Ukraine's former president, the
pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovich, who was ousted after
violent protests last February. The claim could not be verified.
It was believed to be the first successful prolonged attack on
German government websites, which intelligence agencies say face
about 3,000 such assaults daily. About five of the daily attacks
come from foreign intelligence agencies, the head of the BfV
domestic intelligence agency said recently.
The attack comes after U.S. investigators said they believed
North Korea had probably hired hackers for a massive cyber
attack against Sony Pictures. North Korea blamed the United
States for internet outages it suffered soon after.
(Editing by Larry King)
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