Georgia is facing one of the biggest cyber-attacks. Attacks started on 28 October and not only websites but also national TV station is affected by the attacks. Most of the websites’ homepage is replaced with an image of former President Mikheil Saakashvili with the “I’ll be back” caption.
Georgian TV stations were unable to broadcast
Georgia’s two TV stations Imedi and Maestro were also affected by the attacks and they were both unable to broadcast for a short period. Cyber-security expert at Surrey University Prof Alan Woodward referred the attack as “The scale of this attack is something we haven’t seen before.” He also claimed that it was a state-sponsored attack.
Another victim of the attacks was Georgian web hosting providers, Proservice. Due to attacks, more than 15,000 websites went offline. After the attacks Proservice web hosting site published the statement:
The largest cyberattack is being repelled at this very moment. Today, October 28, one of the largest cyber-attacks on the cyberspace of Georgia at dawn. One of the targets of the attack is a server owned by Proservice, which houses websites of state agencies, the private sector, and media organizations.
As a result of the attack, some 15,000 subscribers of Web site servers on the Proservice server crashed. Once the problem is discovered, Proservice, along with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and leading experts in the field, is working to eliminate the problem completely. As of October 28, 8:00 pm, more than 50% of web pages hosted by company-owned servers have been restored.
The company is actively working to eliminate the problem. The process will continue all night long and web pages will be restored by the end of tomorrow. Proservice expresses its deepest condolences to the owners of all its dedicated web servers and thanks to everyone for their support and assistance during these difficult times.